Bananas are the world’s most popular fruit. Experts say 100 billion bananas are eaten every year, and 95% of those are the Cavendish banana type. But a new fungus has emerged that attacks this usually resistant variety of banana, and it is rapidly spreading throughout the world’s commercial crops.
Chemicals can help, but another potential solution is to grow bananas without using soil, as Gert Kema, professor of Tropical Phytopathology at Wageningen University, told BBC Newsday:
Dutch scientists have already harvested their first batch of ‘soil-less’ bananas
More banana facts:
Around 14% of global banana exports are from the African continent, according to the UN food agency
It says that up to 80% of production in Africa is of local banana varieties that have been present on the continent for more than 1,000 years.
