The 100 billion Cavendish bananas consumed annually worldwide are perfect from a genetic standpoint, every single one a duplicate of every other.
Until the early 1960s, American cereal bowls and ice cream dishes were filled with the Gros Michel, a banana that was larger and, by all accounts, tastier than the fruit we now eat. Like the Cavendish, the Gros Michel, or “Big Mike”, accounted for nearly all the sales of sweet bananas in the Americas and Europe. But starting in the early part of the last century, a fungus called Panama disease began infecting the Big Mike harvest.
Once a little-known species, the Cavendish was eventually accepted as Big Mike’s replacement after billions of dollars in infrastructure changes were made to accommodate different growing and ripening needs. Its advantage was its resistance to Panama disease. But in 1992, a new strain of the fungus – one that can affect the Cavendish – was discovered in Asia. Since then, Panama disease Race 4 has wiped out plantations in Indonesia, Malaysia, Australia and Taiwan, and it is now spreading through much of Southeast Asia. It has yet to hit Africa or Latin America, but most experts agree that it is coming.
Currently, there is no way to effectively combat Panama disease and no Cavendish replacement in sight.
Drs Rowe and Rosales have unbounded hopes for Goldfinger. ~ It can be grown without pesticides, and in areas where traditional banana varieties don’t grow. ~ Goldfinger is only one arrow in FHIA’s bow. PHIA-02, a Cavendish hybrid highly resistant to Black Sigatoka, is also being tested in various countries. Equally promising is FHIA-03, a rustic cooking banana being tested in seven African and eight Latin American and Caribbean countries ~. It’s even thriving in areas where dessert bananas and plantain won’t grow such as in poor, dry, acid and rocky soils. FHIA-03 also appears to be resistant to Moko, a bacterial disease and to Race 2 of Panana Disease.
How can I get ahold of a “Big Mike”? I’d like to try one.