<h5>What makes bananas the most popular fruit in the world?</h5>  <p>Bananas are the world’s most popular fruit - they’re super-rich in potassium and taste great. They can be eaten alone or mixed in salads or even in desserts (some people even make healthy ice cream using bananas!).
Bananas are also easy to transport, especially because they don’t need refrigeration and come in a cover (the famous banana peel). Bananas are often harvested when they are raw. By the time they reach their destination, they ripen and are ready to eat.</p>
<p>For many years now, farmers who grow bananas have been fighting a fungus known as the Panama Disease. More recently, the disease has made its way to Latin America - the world’s largest exporter of bananas.
</p> <h5>What is the Panama Disease?</h5>  <p>The Panama Disease has been called the COVID-19 of bananas. It is caused by a fungus that lives in soil and can easily spread through infected bananas, banana plants, and even contaminated soil, water, tools, etc. The fungus kills the plant by blocking its ability to absorb nutrients from the soil.</p>
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An infected plant can look healthy for up to a year before the disease starts showing its effects. By that time, the plant is already dead and the soil is already contaminated, also killing nearby banana plants. 
</p> <h5>What is the history of the Panama Disease?</h5>  <p>The Panama Disease was first discovered in the 1950s. It is the main reason for the extinction of Gros Michel or ‘Big Mike’ bananas. These bananas were the only type of bananas that was eaten in America for over 50 years. </p>
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<p>After their extinction, the Cavendish type of bananas became popular all over the world. This type of banana remained unaffected by the Panama Disease, or so we thought. </p>
<p>All was good until 1989 when a new variant of the Panama Disease called Tropical Race 4 (TR4) was discovered. Unfortunately, Cavendish bananas are not safe from TR4 and there is no cure for TR4. However, TR4 only affects banana plants and not all plants.
</p> <h5>So why is TR4 in the news now? </h5>  <p>Recently, TR4 has been found in Columbia, a country in Latin America and the fifth-largest exporter of bananas in the world. The concern is that TR4 could infect the bananas of Latin America (the largest banana exporter in the world), and then spread all over the world from there. This could lead to the extinction of bananas. </p>
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Many years ago, Taiwan was a huge exporter of Gros Michel bananas. Their exports fell when the Panama Disease was first discovered in the country. Their exports rose again when they started exporting Cavendish bananas. But once TR4 was discovered there, their banana exports fell and still continue to decrease.
</p> <h5>What are we doing to save bananas?</h5> <figure>
        <img src="https://firebasestorage.googleapis.com/v0/b/newsahoot.appspot.com/o/why-are-bananas-disappearing-from-earth%2Fwhy-are-bananas-disappearing-from-earth-section1.jpeg?alt=media&token=18db7ad5-6b30-4500-8959-265d8bf34348" alt="What are we doing to save bananas?" >
        <figcaption>Bananas are kept on the shelf of a supermarket. Photo by Steve Hopson / CC BY-SA 2.5.; https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Bananas.jpg</figcaption>
      </figure> <p>Farmers in Columbia are trying to control TR4 best they can. They are doing this by disinfecting their tools and clothing, ensuring infected plants are not sent to other farms, etc. One can say that this is the banana version of washing hands and social distancing. </p>
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<p>Many scientists across the world are trying to find the best solution to save Cavendish bananas. Some scientists have already made genetically modified Cavendish bananas that remain unaffected by TR4. However, genetically modified food requires years of testing before it can be sold to people in markets.</p>
<p>Let’s root for our hardworking farmers and scientists to beat the evil TR4 and save our beloved bananas from extinction because we’re not ready to say goodbye to bananas yet!
</p>

A strange disease is wiping out the world's bananas and confusing scientists. Let's find out what we're doing to stop it.

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