[Pollinator] Wild Banana Species Vanishing

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Wild Banana Species in India Vanishing

May 08, 2006 — By Associated Press


 NEW DELHI — Wild banana species are disappearing in India, the world's 
biggest producer of the fruit, due to shrinking forests and rapid urbanization, the 
U.N. Food and Agriculture Organization has said.

India is the world's biggest banana grower, with an annual production of 
18.52 tons, or more than 20 percent of the total world output of 80.03 tons in 
2005, the FAO said in a recent press statement.

"But over-exploitation and the loss of forests as a result of encroachment 
and logging, slash-and-burn cultivation and urbanization are causing a rapid 
loss of wild banana species that have existed in India for thousands of years," 
it said.

Bananas are the world's most exported fruit, and the fourth most important 
food commodity after rice, wheat and maize, the food agency added.

India, as the largest producer of the fruit, had contributed significantly to 
the "global genetic base of bananas," said NeBambi Lutaladio, FAO's 
agriculture officer.

"But due to ecosystem destruction, it is probable that many valuable gene 
sources have now been lost," Lutaladio said. "That could cause serious problems 
because bananas, particularly commercial varieties, have a narrow genetic pool 
and are highly vulnerable to pests and diseases," he said.

Historically, it was Alexander the Great who put bananas on the map in 327 
B.C. when, during his invasion of India, he reported eating and enjoying the 
fruit, the statement said.

The FAO is calling for a systematic exploration of the wild bananas' 
remaining forest habitat, which lies in some of India's most remote regions and in the 
jungles of Southeast Asia, to catalog the number and types of surviving wild 
species.

The food agency, which tries to preserve agricultural biodiversity, has 
sought better land management in India and the introduction of wild bananas in 
developing new species of the fruit for cultivation.

Source: Associated Press
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