Yes, we will have no bananas if crop blight spreads globally

HITMAKER Elvis & his band the Attractions in 1981 THREAT Cavendish banana BANANAS could face extinction if a devastating tropical disease spreads across global crops.

Fungal infection Panama disease is already ravaging Asia, Africa, the Middle East, Australia and Central America.

If it reaches South America, the Cavendish banana – the species most commonly sold and consumed worldwide – could be killed off.

All Cavendish bananas are genetically identical, which allows Panama disease to destroy entire harvest yields rapidly. The disease does not affect the fruit itself but rapidly kills Cavendish banana plants.

Some five billion Cavendishes are eaten every year in the UK alone.

Researchers hope to find a solution to the blight in a rare Madagascan banana tree that grows an unpalatable, wild type species that is immune to Panama disease.

Plant biologists are rushing to create a hybrid of the Madagascan and Cavendish bananas in the hope of creating a infection-resistant edible strain – but there is the added issue of there only being five of the Madagascan banana trees left.

Cavendish bananas were named after William Cavendish, the 6th Duke of Devonshire, who started growing them at his Chatsworth House estate in Derbyshire in 1834.

Steve Porter, the current head gardener at the estate, said: ‘We are hopeful the work being done by scientists around the world to find a cure for the disease threatening the Cavendish banana will be successful.”