On the territory of a state such as Colombia, which is considered one of the world's leading suppliers of bananas, an extremely dangerous pest strain has been registered.

We are talking about the Fusarium fungus Fusarium TR4, which is able to destroy absolutely all plantations with bananas belonging to the Cavendish variety.

It is noteworthy that this variety is the most popular in all countries of the world. It is Cavendish that makes up about fifty percent of the total world banana volume. And today, this culture is literally balancing on the verge of extinction.

Variety of bananas "Cavendish"

According to leading experts at the University of Wageningen of the Netherlands, the Fusarium fungus with strain TR4 is spread using water and soil, in addition, it is able to infect the plant through the root system. The culture “noted” by the pest soon withers away and, in the end, dies from dehydration due to the inaction of the deceased root system.

Scientists emphasize that the fruits of plants affected by spores of Fusarium TR4, can not be eaten. It will not be superfluous to note that at the beginning of the last century such an ancestor of Fusarium TR4, as Fusarium oxysporum, wiped out such a variety of bananas as “Gro Michel” from the face of the earth.

Fortunately, Colombia and its "lifesaver" - the Cavendish variety, which today, alas, is no longer as resistant to fungus as it did in the early twentieth century, helped Colombia to avoid a banana deficit worldwide. And if “Gro Michel”, then the grade “Cavendish” today can not boast of this.