Bananas from Mozambique and Jordan hit by fungus that causes rotting

The fungus Fusarium Oxysporum f. SP. Cubense reached an important variety of bananas planted for export in Mozambique and Jordan, with scientists now fear that this will spread and the Cavendish variety, the most consumed in the world, is seriously threatened.

According to the Huffington Post, the fungus, which has been found in several plantations, cause evil-Panama, rotting bananas.

In the early 20th century, this fungus caused the first important losses in banana plantations, precisely, of Panama. Throughout the first half of the 20th century, on the other hand, he was decimating crops from around the planet. The variety Gros Michel, so predominant, succumbed to the fungus, until in the late 50 's found a variety that you resisted â€" Cavendish.

For many decades, scientists feared that this fungus, then confined to Asia and Australia, spreading around the world, endangering the Cavendish variety. "Given the current modes of travel, there are almost no significant doubts he will reach the largest harvests of Cavendish," said Randy Ploetz, plant pathologist, in 2008.

In his book Banana: The Fate of the Fruit That Changed the World, the author Dan Koeppel spoke with several researchers from the fruit, they told him it was only a matter of time before that bananas were destroyed by the fungus. "Just a little piece of contaminated land, literally, to see this thing in every continent," explained Koeppel.

The banana is the most consumed fruit in the world and, only in the tropics, is a staple food for more than 400 million people.

Foto:  IAN RANSLEY DESIGN + ILLUSTRATION / Creative Commons

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