Banana, the world’s most consumed fruit, is facing an existential threat from the climate crisis, a new report has warned.
According to Imdependent, extreme weather, drought, flooding, and climate-linked fungal diseases are devastating banana crops, especially in Latin America and the Caribbean, which account for 80 per cent of global banana exports.
In the absence of urgent action, 60 per cent of the region’s most suitable banana-growing areas could become uncultivable by 2080, according to the report by the charity Christian Aid.
Aurelia Pop Xo, a banana farmer in Guatemala, told the charity, “Climate change has been killing our crops. My plantation has been dying. There is no income because we cannot sell anything. In the past there was a prediction that this would happen in the future, but it has come earlier.”
Banana is the fourth most important food crop globally after wheat, rice and maize. Over 400 million people rely on it for up to 27 per cent of their daily calories.
But the fruit is becoming increasingly vulnerable. Most exported bananas come from a single cloned variety, the Cavendish, making them especially susceptible to disease.
