WillAgri
Bananas are the symbol of globalisation. Trade in this fruit began 130 years ago. It generates an annual turnover of $25 billion. 20 million tons of bananas were exported in 2019. Today, the banana is threatened, not by Covid 19, but by an equally serious danger. The banana disease, fusarium, is spreading inexorably around the globe, leaving a trail of burnt plantations in its wake. A strain known as Tropical Race 4 (TR4), first identified in Taiwan some 20 years ago, spread throughout Asia to the Middle East and Africa before arriving in Latin American banana outbreaks late last year when it was detected in Colombia. Bio-security measures”, including plantation quarantine, are recommended to curb the spread of the pandemic, but no treatment is available. Once the soil is contaminated, all that remains is for the planter to move elsewhere.
Source Bloomberg