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| Disease threatens world's bananas: UN |
| 2014-04-15 |
| [Al Ahram] The United Nations warned on Monday of the potential "massive destruction" of the world's $5.0-billion (3.6-billion euro) a year banana crop as a plant disease spreads from Asia to Africa and the Middle East. The Rome-based Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) said the TR4 strain of Panama disease, which has already hit tens of thousands of hectares in Southeast Asia, had been reported in Jordan and Mozambique. The disease is "posing a serious threat to production and export" of bananas, the fourth most important food crop for the world's least developed countries and a key revenue source for poor farmers, FAO said in a report. |
| Posted by:Fred |
| #12 Yes, we'll have no bananas. |
| Posted by: charger 2014-04-15 19:26 |
| #11 Cleanup on Aisle #10. |
| Posted by: Snusort Spomose2148 2014-04-15 14:52 |
| #10 |
| Posted by: Otto tse Tung7839 2014-04-15 12:06 |
| #9 Sounds worser than the turnip termite let's hope at least the plantains can be maintained. |
| Posted by: Shipman 2014-04-15 11:56 |
| #8 If things keep going in the same historical trend, we will be down to plantains. |
| Posted by: Alaska Paul 2014-04-15 11:26 |
| #7 What do we want? Banana Affirmative Action!!! When do we want it? NOW!!!!!11ty |
| Posted by: Secret Asian Man 2014-04-15 11:13 |
| #6 Bananas can catch Socialism? Who knew? |
| Posted by: SteveS 2014-04-15 09:10 |
| #5 Bananas have always had this problem, this is because they lack genetic diversity. |
| Posted by: BernardZ 2014-04-15 08:06 |
| #4 This can't be right. They're not blaming the U.S. for the problem (yet). I await a Snowden release of documents on CIA's banana bioweapon program. |
| Posted by: ed in texas 2014-04-15 07:24 |
| #3 This is actually a big deal if it plays out. Bananas are a major food crop in the tropics and a major source of money to import into the U.S. and Euroland. The problem is that these countries tend to go for monoculture - only growing one variety so that they maximize their profits. A hundred years ago the variety that made up nearly all the sweet banana crop was one called "Big Mike". The song "Yes, We Have No Bananas" was written during that era. By all accounts this variety was larger, sweeter, and much better in terms of consistency than the current yellow banana, a variety called "Cavendish". Then this disease wiped out pretty much every Big Mike banana in the world. Cavendish was the closest to that one and at the time was highly resistant so every banana plantation scrambled to plant it instead. The problem now is that the disease has mutated and now preys upon Cavendish as well, meaning that this scenario will play out once more. Maybe this time they will move to multiple varieties so that the vulnerabilities of monoculture will not come into play at some future date. However, the banana producing parts of the world will most likely repeat this foolish practice governed by the people that govern them. |
| Posted by: no mo uro 2014-04-15 06:48 |
| #2 I blame Irina Rodnina [the Russians]. Angering the God-King and Queen with doctored banana image tweets has it's consequences. |
| Posted by: Besoeker 2014-04-15 04:38 |
| #1 Fear notteth, World, GUAM to the recue, presuming of course that America = Amerika doesn't sink us wid "Earthquake/Tectonic Bombs" as it falls back across the Pacific towards CONUS-NORAM in righteous OWG Globalism + anti-China, Nuclear Islam "A2/AREA-DENIAL". ARISE, SOLYENT BANANAS, ARISE! |
| Posted by: JosephMendiola 2014-04-15 03:26 |