Fungus to wipe out bananas in Phillipines!

Fungus to wipe out bananas in Phillipines!

www.rawstory.com

A disease that has ravaged banana plantations across Southeast Asia could wipe out the Philippine industry in three years unless the government finds a cure, a growers’ group warned Monday.

The disease, called Fusarium wilt, is caused by a fast-spreading fungus that kills the plant, said Stephen Antig, executive director of the Pilipino Banana Growers and Exporters Association.

“So far, it has already infected 1,200 hectares (2,950 acres) of banana plantations locally,

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Related News Links:
en.wikipedia.org
www.extento.hawaii.edu

The Phillipines is the second largest exporter of bananas in the world. Will this also devastate the Phillipine economy because banana production accounts for a lot of theri employment ? I wonder if this is a new variant of the fungus that has evolved?

"From Wikipedia, "Importance
Because F. oxysporum is so widespread, it is a significant problem in many crops. It is economically damaging to the banana industry, and the threat of more virulent strains or mutations to damage previously resistant crops is of major concern. F. oxysporum also causes damage to many crops from the Solanaceae family, including potato, tomato, and pepper."

www.rawstory.com
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reply to post by fnpmitchreturns




That will be devastating for the Philippines..and will sky rocket the price of bananas..which is a crime in itself..considering it is such a healthy inexpensive fruit.

That is not good news at all....and they need to do something about it...fast!!

The conspiracy side of my brain feels like this was planned...really hope that isn't the case.. ..and it probably wasn't.

Now the owners that run the good banana plantations can make a killing for what they have... but something tells me that hard manual labor that these owners rely on, won't see any of the extra profit.

reply to post by gabby2011


I found this website and I think it would be a good idea to
start now...in case this threat spreads.

theprudenthomemaker.com...

reply to post by mamabeth



thanks for the link mamabeth..great idea..