<p> It is now being suspected that the new banana fungus that has been slowly threatening key banana plantations around the world is now in Southeast Asia and Latin America, experts say. Known as <I>Fusarium oxysporum f.sp.cubense</i> (Foc), or the Panama Disease, the fungus attacks the Cavendish banana, which is the primary variety grown and marketed by Chiquita, Dole Foods, and other big fruit companies. The disease was reportedly found in plantations in Mozambique and Jordan a few months prior to these new findings. </p><hr class="legacyRuler"><hr class="invisible minimal-padding"><p> According to The Independent, the UN Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) warns that the presence of TR4 in the Middle East and Africa means “virtually all export banana plantations” are vulnerable unless its spread can be stopped and new resistant strains developed. The FAO says that a “concerted effort is required from industry, research institutions, government, and international organizations to prevent spread of the disease.”</p><hr class="legacyRuler"><hr class="invisible minimal-padding"><p> It seems like <B>we’re far from a “Bananageddon,”</b> however. In a previous AndNowUKnow article, we reported that Ed Lloyd, a spokesman for Chiquita, said that there was no cause for alarm and that it wasn’t a ‘sky is falling sort of situation.’ “This is something that this industry has dealt with for decades,” he said, noting that the fungus is soil-borne, which usually requires taking infected soil from one place to another. Just a tiny water droplet or small amounts of soil on machinery or shoes is enough to transport the fungus, though. </p><hr class="legacyRuler"><hr class="invisible minimal-padding"><p><a class="btn btn-sm btn-primary col-lg-12" style="white-space: normal;" href=" http://www.andnowuknow.com/headlines/chiquita-says-banana-fungus-no-cause-alarm/christofer-oberst" target="_new"> Chiquita Says Banana Fungus is No Cause for Alarm </a></p><hr class="legacyRuler"><hr class="invisible minimal-padding"><p> Dublin-based Fyffes, which recently merged with Chiquita, echoed the statement, saying, “While we continue to monitor the situation, as of yet we do not foresee any serious impact for UK banana supplies.”</p><hr class="legacyRuler"><hr class="invisible minimal-padding"><p> The disease can live for 30 years or more in the soil and turns the core of the banana plant into a blackened mush. Infected plantations could be wiped out within two or three years, Independent reports. </p><hr class="legacyRuler"><hr class="invisible minimal-padding"><p> As of now, large producers of bananas like Chiquita, are examining other varieties of bananas that could replace the Cavendish, which originally replaced the Gros Michel variety after it had been wiped out in the 1960s by a different strain of the same virus. The Cavendish is currently the world’s most successful banana variety, accounting for 47% of all cultivated bananas and almost the entire export trade, which is worth more than $8 billion a year. </p><hr class="legacyRuler"><hr class="invisible minimal-padding"><p> Stay tuned to AndNowUKnow as we continue our coverage on the Panama Disease.</p><hr class="legacyRuler"><hr class="invisible minimal-padding">
