Bye Bye Bananas — the Return of Panama Disease 519
Ant sends in a disturbing report in The Scientist on an imminent threat to worldwide banana production. "The banana we eat today is not the one your grandparents ate. That one — known as the Gros Michel — was, by all accounts, bigger, tastier, and hardier than the variety we know and love, which is called the Cavendish. The unavailability of the Gros Michel is easily explained: it is virtually extinct. Introduced to our hemisphere in the late 19th century, the Gros Michel was almost immediately hit by a blight that wiped it out by 1960. The Cavendish was adopted at the last minute by the big banana companies — Chiquita and Dole — because it was resistant to that blight, a fungus known as Panama disease... [Now] Panama disease — or Fusarium wilt of banana — is back, and the Cavendish does not appear to be safe from this new strain, which appeared two decades ago in Malaysia, spread slowly at first, but is now moving at a geometrically quicker pace. There is no cure, and nearly every banana scientist says that though Panama disease has yet to hit the banana crops of Latin America, which feed our hemisphere, the question is not if this will happen, but when. Even worse, the malady has the potential to spread to dozens of other banana varieties, including African bananas, the primary source of nutrition for millions..."
Look on the bright side of... (Score:5, Funny)
Re: (Score:3, Interesting)
Re: (Score:3, Informative)
Re:Look on the bright side of... (Score:5, Informative)
Meme that went around the internet 4-5 years ago.
monoculture is a problem (Score:5, Interesting)
Re:monoculture is a problem (Score:5, Informative)
Re:monoculture is a problem (Score:5, Informative)
They are not all quite sterile... you do get a seed for every few hundred pounds of bananas.
That said, you are essentially right. All cavendish bananas are clones, this makes them very vulnerable to disease.
T
Re:monoculture is a problem (Score:5, Interesting)
and they taste like wet paper bags. I haven't eaten a Chiquita in over 10 years, I prefer any other which at least taste like a banana. Chiquitas were only bred for looks.
Re:monoculture is a problem (Score:5, Interesting)
I find it funny how the wikipedia article on Chiquita just mentions the name change but none of the history it was meant to hide http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chiquita_Brands_International [wikipedia.org]
At least now you slashdotters know how the expression banana republic http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Banana_republic [wikipedia.org] came to be. A republic that a criminal banana company would be capable of destroying.
Re:monoculture is a problem (Score:5, Insightful)
It's like boycotting Japanese products because of Pearl Harbor.
Re:monoculture is a problem (Score:5, Interesting)
You have a valid point.
It is hard to compare such distinct events. But I would say that the damage caused by Pearl Harbor was "contained", and later "repaired". The US did not suffer that much from that war, and Japan was given conditions to rebuild.
Pearl Harbor did not destroy the US democracy.
The damage caused by the United Fruit Company, to that region (Central America) stability, to those countries democracies is still an issue to this day.
The land that many of those countries tried to nationalize, and died for trying it, is still in the hands of the "United Fruit Company". Now renamed "Chiquita".
The grandchildren of those who died in the 50s, 60s for it, are still workers in that same land, and did not become land-owners.
Those sitting at Chiquita today did not cause the offense. But they still make profits out of it, and the mess caused by that offense perpetuates to this day.
Re:monoculture is a problem (Score:4, Insightful)
Only Klingons blame descendants for 7 generations.
Re:monoculture is a problem (Score:4, Insightful)
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Re:monoculture is a problem (Score:4, Interesting)
On the other hand, you can easily get fair trade biological bananas on the market. They taste better and encourage better ethics.
Recent History: Paying off Terrorists (Score:5, Interesting)
Re: (Score:3, Interesting)
In the case you haven't noticed there is a lot more to Slashdot than just US-educated readers.
Chiquitas sell a lot in, for instance, Europe; and I haven't met many Europeans familiar with the actual meaning of "banana republics".
Re: (Score:3, Funny)
Re:monoculture is a problem (Score:5, Interesting)
If anyone has tried to grow an apple tree from a seed, they will know that the tree will not produce the same fruit that the seed came from. My apple trees are actually grafted on to quince root stocks. They are self-pollinating and disease resistant. I see no problems in monoculture - the breeders will adapt.
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It's like I am Legend, if the movie was made with bananas, instead of people!
Re:monoculture is a problem (Score:5, Interesting)
Re:monoculture is a problem (Score:5, Insightful)
At the moment I'm working in the bio/ag-tech industry and can see the same thing coming down the road in the wheat/corn/soybeans/milo industry, where big industry players have foolishly limited the gene pool in the name of profit.
The worst part about it is the fact that many of the people driving monoculture are trained scientists who, for some reason, are oblivious to its negative ramifications.
Posting as AC to avoid other, uh, negative ramifications
Re:monoculture is a problem (Score:5, Insightful)
If everyone else is cloning Tasty Profitable Banana, and you don't, you go out of business because either your bananas aren't Tasty or your bananas aren't Profitable. Therefore there's a penalty for maintaining variation, and the only potential benefit -- not having your whole crop wiped out by a blight -- isn't something you can bet on. Most likely, economic forces will drive you out of business long before your more varied gene pool can have any beneficial effect.
There's a benefit to society (and the entire banana-growing industry) if there is a diverse gene pool, but no individual business has an incentive to maintain such a gene pool.
Re:monoculture is a problem (Score:4, Insightful)
Re:monoculture is a problem (Score:5, Interesting)
For the most part, they (we?) won't. Most varieties of Banana's are rather small and nasty. They're not the kind of thing your average westerner is likely to enjoy.
On the other hand, assuming they can find a variety of Banana which is easy to cultivate, resistant to this disease, AND tasty, then it'll be a huge boon to their economy. It could do more good for Africa than all the foreign aid of the last three decades combined.
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On the other hand, assuming they can find a variety of Banana which is easy to cultivate, resistant to this disease, AND tasty, then it'll be a huge boon to their economy. It could do more good for Africa than all the foreign aid of the last three decades combined.
Or, of course, the 3 or 4 big banana companies of the earth (which are all 'western'), will jump into the void and start exploiting African banana farmers, let them work in dangerous conditions, using chemicals, and not nearly paying them enough to make a proper living. So more or less re-create the current status quo in latin-american banana farming but now in africa...
Re:monoculture is a problem (Score:4, Insightful)
Re: (Score:3, Informative)
That's not quite true. Cavendish bananas are the Wonder Bread of bananas. Most people who have tried other varieties think they're a bland shadow of what bananas should be.
On the other hand, they're easy to grow and ship in large quantities. They're the only variety that you can harvest, ship half way around the world, and have then all ripen at the same time (right after they get to your local megamart).
Re: (Score:3, Funny)
Please post in lojban to avoid this problem.
Re:monoculture is a problem (Score:5, Funny)
Re:monoculture is a problem (Score:5, Insightful)
Being married to an African woman (Nigerian to be precise), I've had the misfortune of tasting Plaintain, and while I don't mind most of her food (it's usually either too bland and uniformely textured or too spicy for me, but generally edible), with Plaintain I see no redeemable qualities.
It's a very acquired taste, as a lot of African staple food, and it's certainly no replacement for the types of Banana exported to the west.
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Of course, this is from my Puerto Rican wife - are the African plantains the same ones with the same possibilities?
Re:monoculture is a problem (Score:5, Informative)
However, if you let plantains ripen until they're black (at which point, they're still perfectly edible, unlike bananas) and then peel them, cut them into long slices, and cook them in butter, they're incredibly sweet and delicate.
More in line with the original post, there are several varieties of bananas that I find much more delicious than the Cavendish variety. I've had the pleasure of eating several other varieties while abroad that I really enjoyed; for example, apple bananas have got a firmer, more flavourful meat to them, and I strongly prefer them to Cavendish. Cavendish bananas, although I love them, can be a bit dull tasting and mushy.
Re: (Score:3, Interesting)
Take it out, add some ginger and spices and oil and fry the plantains with some cilantro and coriander.
Voila! You've one of the best south Indian delicacies - plantain curry - which is usually eaten with rice and some sauce/yogurt on the side.
Re: (Score:3, Informative)
I'd recommend mixing the spices and adding some mustard seeds to the oil before frying the plantains.
Also, adding grated coconut after the spice is settled in adds a nice flavor. You could either cook it in oil, or add butter for a slightly different flavor.
Or, if you know of an Indian store nearby, you could buy a generic bra
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There are many kinds of bananas (Score:5, Interesting)
I live in Brazil where there are many types of bananas available. Any supermarket has at least three different types. Just off my head, I can name at least six types of Brazilian bananas: Ouro ("gold"), Prata ("silver"), d'Agua ("water"), Maçã ("apple"), Nanica ("dwarf"), da Terra ("earth").
Re:There are many kinds of bananas (Score:5, Interesting)
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Growing up in India, I remember all the different varieties and flavors - they came in pink, red, yellow, green, violet/purple etc, and in all shapes and size (ridiculously small ones to *huge* ones). And they all tasted very distinctly different from one another and were quite delicious.
In the US, all fruits taste the same to me, and bananas are so flavorless that I've stopped eating them altogether.
Hell, you even had varieties of plantains that could be used in several spicy dishes, and
Re:There are many kinds of bananas (Score:5, Funny)
Re:There are many kinds of bananas (Score:5, Funny)
Re:monoculture is a problem (Score:4, Funny)
that's genetic variation to prevent the fruit from being eaten by two-legged straight-walking simians who do not spread the seeds/pollen.
300 Species, Probably Not All Susceptible (Score:5, Informative)
Clone! (Score:3, Informative)
http://science.slashdot.org/comments.pl?sid=570567&cid=23624829 [slashdot.org]
We just don't eat - or get offered to eat - the other 299 species.
Re:300 Species, Probably Not All Susceptible (Score:5, Informative)
The Cavendish is actually a very inferior banana. It's simply tougher and cheap to transport compared to the other varieties. the Banana companies are panicking because they will have to change how they do business and they dont want to.
Honestly, if you can get to try some of the other bananas out there, you'll never EVER touch the bland yucky Cavendish again. The growers brought this on themselves, the same way the last blight took out the favorite that was EVEN easier to ship and transport but had the advantage of tasting way better than the current offering.
Re:300 Species, Probably Not All Susceptible (Score:5, Funny)
Seriously people? (Score:5, Interesting)
Re:Seriously people? (Score:5, Insightful)
The article is less to do on bananas going extinct then rather trying to sell GM crops to the public.
Re:Seriously people? (Score:5, Interesting)
but the only one eaten by americans is the cavendish
When I was in Bali I ate several different varieties of banana, and they were all much more tasty than the "bog-standard" Cavendish. So maybe this isn't such a bad thing after all.
Rich.
Re:Seriously people? (Score:5, Informative)
Read more carefully (Score:5, Informative)
Read more carefully. There's more than that in there.
The fungus discussed here grows in the earth, and spreads through earth. In fact, it is a problem _because_ it's in the ground, so you can't just spray the leaves with some fungicide.
So the only way this fungus could make the jump across the ocean to Latin America is either by
A) someone bringing an infected plant and planting it in the middle of a plantation, or
B) someone bringing a sack of infected earth and dumping it in a plantation. That's it, really.
And the cultivars _are_ aware of the threat, so they:
A) don't import any plants, but only clone plants which are known to be healthy. (They actually check, yes.) And
B) don't import soil from anywhere. And apparently the countries which depend on bananas for their economy, have special customs regulations to forbid exactly that.
Just about the only realistic scenario I can think of where that jump could happen, is, basically, an act of terror or sabotage. I.e., someone deliberately bringing some infected soil and spreading it around in Latin America. It could happen, I guess, but it's hardly something that the cultivars can do much about in advance.
At any rate, that's the failure point of the "OMG, it's spreading exponentially" scare. It can spread all it want somewhere else, as long as it can't cross the ocean by itself, it's even less of a threat to the Latin American plantation than Al Qaeda deciding to crash an airplane into a plantation.
Re:Read more carefully (Score:5, Informative)
> A) someone bringing an infected plant and planting it in the middle of a plantation, or
> B) someone bringing a sack of infected earth and dumping it in a plantation. That's it, really.
I think it is much easier than that. The fungus spread by insects like aphid. All it takes is a single one left alone in a container to somehow land in anywhere close to plantation to begin the spread of the disease.
Re:Read more carefully (Score:5, Informative)
Easier done than said.
Hmm. (Score:5, Informative)
And all because people don't like seeds in their fruit? (I would guess this isn't true, most probably people wouldn't really care much anyway, given that the fruit has an inedible skin too and a lot of popular fruits have seeds).
It's hardly surprising, it's only "catastrophic" because we've deliberately propogated a single, genetically-identical (and I would hazard "faulty", due to it's inability to reproduce) plant over and over and over again.
Re:Hmm. (Score:5, Informative)
There's a reason modern bananas have been bred to be seedless.
One word? (Score:5, Funny)
Re:One word? (Score:5, Funny)
Re: (Score:3, Funny)
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1 picture = 37052 words
1 library of congress = 28 million books = 2 ^ 42.6 bytes = 6.208375 Terabytes
The picture is that worth 5.558195779 x 10-9 libraries of congress
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That's like those horror images you see, like the ones the dentist shows you - "clean your teeth children, or they'll look like... THIS!".
Eat your vegetables children, or you'll have to eat bananas.. like THIS!
Will someone... (Score:5, Funny)
Call DK (Score:4, Funny)
Clearly this is a viral commercial for the next DK Country! DK Country Wii: Panama Disease Adventure!
Higher friction on the Gros Michel? (Score:5, Funny)
Re:Higher friction on the Gros Michel? (Score:5, Interesting)
Actually, that's a slightly hedged 'yes'.
Grampa's banana had a thicker, more durable skin, in addition to being larger than the bananas we youngun's know so well.
The other reason it's so popular as comic relief is because it actually was a real hazard back around 1915-ish. As a 'portable' fruit, they were handy to carry anywhere, and without streetcorner trash cans, the peels got tossed on the sidewalk as often as not. And considering bananas are (and were) the most popular fruit in the US (almost twice as popular as the good ol' apple), it really was a normal hazard. The Boy Scout handbook of 1914 actually listed removing a banana peel from the sidewalk as a 'good deed', it was that common an occurence.
As a side effect though, it *did* start many cities putting trash cans on busy streets, and enacting littering laws.
Re:Higher friction on the Gros Michel? (Score:5, Funny)
I had to sit down because I was laughing so hard. I never expected to ever slip on a banana peel in my life time. I laughed ever harder when I remembered I saw the banana in the morning walking to campus and thought 'Silly banana peels. You just aren't so effective of a threat anymore.' Watch out - those guys are a busted ankle or hip just lying in wait.
Yes, we have no bananas! (Score:3, Funny)
RTFA... There's actually more to it! (Score:5, Insightful)
The truly interesting part is that the banana companies in S. America still don't see this as a problem. TFA says that in their anual summaries they don't even mention this disease much less list it as a threat. I think the issue is much more about these companies' failure to act before it's too late than that nature is running its course.
Finally we may get some variety ... (Score:5, Interesting)
Having traveled in some tropical countries, one of the things I most remember about their fruits are the sheer NUMBER of different banana varieties. No monoculture. Your average roadside stand would have half a dozen varieties, and the one a mile down the road would have a few more. Tomorrow the mix would be different. And most of them would taste a lot better than the crap that's so widely available elsewhere!
I for one will welcome our new polycultural bananalords.
There's one problem (Score:5, Informative)
1. Long shelf life
2. Very uniform and predictable ripening times
That is why you can get bananas cheaply, even though they might be grown thousands of miles from where they are eventually sold.
Most, if not all the other varieties are only viable crops when they are sold very close to where they were grown.
Re:Finally we may get some variety ... (Score:4, Insightful)
I've done the same and I'll wholeheartedly agree. The only saving grace, at least for me, is that one can typically find plantain available in most supermarkets. Let them ripen (until black) in a paper bag, fry them, and add to a plate of black beans and rice with some Cuban-style coffee on the side, and Bob's (or maybe Fidel) yer uncle.
As a side note, I do think the tendency for westerners to buy bananas out of habit is a disease. People have written essays and even books on why fruits and vetegables should be bought local, and then, only when in season. The idea of eating summer fruits when there's snow on the ground might be novel, but hardly appropriate, or interesting. Conversely, seeing a California supermarket in the middle of summer selling bananas (and their customers lining up to buy them) when just about every type of fruit is ripe for the picking is, well, no less than absurd.
Me, I typically shop at farmer's markets, but that doesn't preclude me from noticing that the increasing reliance by the general public on cheap third-world produce (Walmart for the dinner table!) can and does have unfortunate side effects.
Re:Finally we may get some variety ... (Score:4, Insightful)
Strange that, I do think the tendency for westerners to tell people how to live is a far more virulent disease.
Re: (Score:3, Insightful)
The idea of eating summer fruits when there's snow on the ground might be novel, but hardly appropriate, or interesting.
I'll grant you the "novel" and "interesting" parts, but not "appropriate". I don't see the point in limiting variety in my diet, particularly in the midwestern USA in the wintertime--- when the only locally-grown produce is snow!
I hate a produce monoculture as much as the next guy, and I've even owned shares in a few local farmer's co-ops (and yes, their food does taste better when in season). But I'll take that along with my summer-fruits-in-wintertime disease anytime!
Re:Finally we may get some variety ... (Score:4, Insightful)
Re:Finally we may get some variety ... (Score:5, Insightful)
What will happen to the dancing banana? (Score:5, Funny)
Gros Michel? (Score:5, Funny)
Another "Ant" submission...now to Slashdot (Score:3)
So not only does he have to go out and actually find these stories to submit to all these different sites, he has to take the time to write a submission. And I don't think he's getting compensated for it...I mean, how would he?
Would love to know the story behind "Ant".
Alaska Science Forum (Score:4, Informative)
Basically it involves information on why the bananas are hard to breed for a better strain. (they have no seeds) The Honduras Foundation for Agricultural Research has found way of crossbreeding in wild strains to produce seeds. Looks like it's slow going, but genetic mutation is pretty much the only way to engineer in resistance to new disease, and that will require seeds, not cuttings.
I wasn't able to find any updates on the HFAR's progress. Anyone else have any luck?
I just couldnt help it... (Score:5, Funny)
Anyone else burst out laughing after reading the title of banana scientist? This picture came to mind...
http://www.zenbutoh.com/charactergallery/images/gorilla-bananas.jpg [zenbutoh.com]
Yes, we have no bananas (Score:4, Funny)
Bananas the World's 4th Largest Staple Crop (Score:5, Insightful)
Food for thought.
Holding off judgement (Score:4, Insightful)
Re: (Score:3, Funny)
Re:Oh noes! (Score:5, Funny)
Re:Oh noes! (Score:5, Insightful)
I guess he just don't eat bananas.
Create alarm, plant GM crops, Profit!!! (Score:5, Interesting)
This "news" has been around for a long time. Even the summary says so. It's an old story: monoculture -> disease -> no more bananas. Unless you have zero knowledge of bananas, you heard about this years ago. [guardian.co.uk] Hmm, I wonder why they'd be raising the alarm now, even when the banana companies like Dole and Chiquita don't care?
Oh, I see. Somebody wants to skirt regulations regarding transgenic crops. "Won't somebody think of the bananas!!" ... Suckers.
Re: (Score:3, Funny)
I, for one, welcome our new yellow overlords.
Re:Oh noes! (Score:4, Funny)
Re:Oh noes! (Score:5, Insightful)
It's like Slashdot waiting until the end of the month to announce, "Mars polar lander made it to the ground and is sending pictures!"
So yes, it's a slow news day as it's a rehash of old news that has had wide coverage.
Next up, The MIR space station is going to be decommissioned, and spacelab will fall from the sky.
Re:Oh noes! (Score:5, Informative)
The truth is banana plants haven't been propagated by seed, and only recently (past five years) have there been attempts to find new cultivars, before the bottom falls out of the banana industry.
Re:Oh noes! (Score:5, Funny)
Re:Oh noes! (Score:5, Informative)
Second of all, most banana plants are grown from cuttings - without the reproduction mutations resistant to these fungal infections are simply not happening on any kind of scale. "The problem is that the banana we eat is a seedless, sterile article which could slip the way of its predecessor which was wiped out by blight half a century ago."
They're sequencing the genome of the bananas eaten in africa (which HAVE seeds) but there are problems because people aren't interested in the GM varieties, saying they taste more like apple (no bad thing to me)
Banana Scientist? (Score:4, Funny)
Re:Oh noes! (Score:5, Informative)
If you RTFS then you will see that while 'we' in developed countries will be ok without bananas they make up a large part of the food supply for some people in Africa. This will likely have a massive effect on people who don't have the luxury to choose what they eat day to day.
Re: (Score:3, Insightful)
Re:Oh noes! (Score:5, Insightful)
However -- this doesn't mean that we should blithely accept the extinction of an important food crop. This is a warning. What if it were rice? Or sweet corn?
The properties that make bananas vulnerable are shared by many other, more important food crops. Mainly these amount to one thing: the crop in question is economically attractive to plant on a large scale and ship around the world.
It's important that we look at this as both a lesson, and an opportunity to try out different strategies to respond. The global food supply is already under pressure from energy prices and population growth. It should be manageable over the coming decades, but we shouldn't trust our luck too much.
This also bears watching because bananas are an extremely important food source in areas where they grow. Even though this is not a variety that is used as a basic staple by anybody, the biology of banana diseases is very important.
Re:Fruit considered dangerous (Score:5, Interesting)
Salmonella infects 1 in 20,000 eggs, and generally only if the shell is cracked. For years it was supposed to cause heart disease, onyl for the WHO to establish that the more you eat the longer you live.
Margarine was supposed to be heart healthy and turned out to be the opposite.
Same with vegetable oils, but which cause cancer in lab animals (triggering an attempt to industrially convert polyunsaturates to monounsaturated oils).
I reckon there are two general rules: when is doubt do the opposite of what the experts tell you, and the second to establish what is anthropologically natural to us rather than chasing novel elixirs. After all, you can't be moderate or balanced with poisons (like margarine, a sort of plasticised oil).