We always worry about certain species of plants and animals going extinct, but we doubt anyone had bananas on their extinction Bingo card.
Unfortunately, that is a very real possibility due to a disease outbreak that frankly, nobody knows how to stop.
Nobody is even close to solving the problem," Dan Koeppel, author of the book "Banana: The Fate of the Fruit That Changed the World," told Business Insider.
The Cavendish banana, which is what you'll find at any supermarket and comprises nearly half of all bananas consumed worldwide, is facing a threat from a vicious fungal infection called Panama Disease (Fusarium wilt) Tropical Race 4.
Apparently, this fungus gets into the banana tree's roots, metastasizes to the rest of the plant and starves it of food and water until it eventually dies.
TR4 was first discovered in Taiwan in 1989, but has since spread to Australia, the Middle East, Africa, and India and China, the world's largest banana producers.
While nobody knows how halt the threat of TR4, we thankfully have some time.
James Dale, a professor and leader of the banana biotechnology program at Queensland University of Technology, says "We have at least a decade before the impact is drastic. I would say with certainty that there will be a solution before the export market for Cavendish is severely affected."
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