The fact is, Panama disease is back and here to stay. A new strain of Panama disease known as TR4 or
Tropical Race 4 has been spreading all around the globe, reaching America mid-2019. Effects are starting
to show, specially in Southeast Asia, where loses in banana production have been significant. In
Philippines alone it is estimated to be around 400 million dollars in losses from this new strain of
Panama Disease. Scientists and banana producers are working around the clock trying to find a new
banana type that is resistant to TR4, or find a way to avoid the spread and devastation that follows it. To
truly understand the impact of this disease and the future of bananas we must start from the beginning,
which is known as TR1.

TR1 is the name of the first strain of Fusarium Wilt, a fungus that spreads across the soil infecting the
banana plant with a disease that completely kills the plant and its fruit. This fungus was first spotted in
the early twentieth century when bananas were taking off as a mass market product. Most specifically
Gros Michel bananas, a variety very similar to modern bananas, with a yellow skin and a sweet flavor.
During the early 1990’s banana prices started to become very affordable thanks to innovation and
industrialization of the production and shipping methods. This success and the mass production were
enabled by a special characteristics of banana production: every single banana produced was genetically
identical to each other. Having a fruit that will always look, taste, and grow the same way is a massive
benefit for producers as every single step, from planting to shipping, can be standardized. As time
passed on producers quickly realized that growing genetically identical fruit not only brought a massive
benefit, but also a massive downfall. It wasn’t until mid-twentieth century that the true significance of
what is now known as Panama Disease was evident. As the fungus started spreading rapidly across
America and the rest of the world, the banana plantations started having major losses. The whole
industry came crumbling down, and producers began the race to find a new variety, and one was quickly
found: the Cavendish banana.

Cavendish banana were resistant to TR1 and shared the same features as the Gros Michel banana, a
yellow and sweet fruit, and consumers loved it even more. During the next half century, the banana
industry soared to new heights thanks to massive and successful marketing campaigns from the three
main banana companies. New strains, TR2 and TR3 of Panama Disease, were found but they affected
some varieties of bananas which were not commercially produced, leaving the Cavendish banana
unaffected. It wasn’t until the end of the twentieth century when some scientists and farmers in
Southeast Asia noticed something strange: a new strain of Panama Disease never seen before that
affected Cavendish banana.

This new strain, TR4, quickly became a major concern for the banana industry and different
organizations that deal with agricultural products and their safety. As TR4 started spreading, very slowly
at first, although Southeast Asia concern started growing, but action was very scarce. It eventually
snowballed into a major problem when the rest of Asia, Africa, and Europe saw the fungus spread and
affect many different banana plantations. One of the major concerns was protecting America from the
fungus, as Central and South America account for about three fourths of worldwide banana exports. A
major natural barrier became the safeguard from the disease, surrounded by oceans from the rest of
the World, the only way to transfer the fungus was from contaminated fruits or objects.
A global framework was established by the FAO which outlined three mayor focus points: prevented
future outbreaks, managing current outbreaks, and strengthening cooperation between institutions,
governments, researchers, and producers to work as a group to prevent a scenario like what happened
with TR1.

The measures and proposed solutions so far to TR4 have fallen into two major categories: finding a new
variety or genetic combination that is unaffected by Panama disease, or controlling the spread of the
fungus enough that it doesn’t affect major production of banana.
When is comes to finding a new genetic or variety of banana scientists have to overcome major
obstacles. The main issue is creating or finding a banana that tastes and looks like the current Cavendish
banana. Consumers worldwide have a specific view of the banana, a bright yellow fruit that is soft and
sweet. A major shift in variety will cause significant damage to sales and might even make unrepairable
damage to the industry, changing the history of bananas forever. To put into perspective the importance
of consumers, bananas are the number one most traded and sold fruit in the world, and the fourth most
traded agricultural product worldwide. The industry is valued at 44 billion dollars and millions of jobs all
throughout the world. Scientists have found that only about 10% of new bananas tested are resistant to
TR4 strain, and up until now none of those taste and look like the Cavendish banana.
Another option is quarantine and mitigation. Governments, specially in America, are investing heavily in
controlling every single object and fruit that enters the continent looking for possible contamination
with TR4, with the purpose of protecting current plantations. The issue with this solution is that, just like
it happened with Gros Michel and TR1, the spread of TR4 was not initially contained, and it wasn’t until
it was a clear threat to major worldwide production that real measures were taken.
Currently there is only one banana variety that looks promising and might actually be the future of
bananas. Known as GCTCV-2019, this banana variety was developed by scientists to look and taste very
similar to Cavendish bananas and have resistance to TR4. Field trials have started for this new genetic
variety of bananas and only time will tell the future of them and bananas in general.

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