Bananas being threatened by number of diseases
Bananas are serious business. Around the world, roughly 145 million tons of bananas are grown each year. In some areas, they are a staple food; in the East African highlands, people consume them several times a day. In these areas, annual banana consumption can go as high as 400 pounds per capita.
Yet bananas are also being threatened by a number of diseases, and could suffer more as climate change encourages those pathogens to spread. Banana fields around the world are under siege from a deadly fungus, while a bacterial disease is devastating plantations in East Africa. These most troubling ailments cause any banana plant they touch to wilt and die.
Researchers worry that these fruits are in deep trouble. But don’t panic yet bananas are far from doomed. Scientists are wor...