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Article: Sickly yellow: bananas. (black Sigatoka disease)
- Article from:
- The Economist (US)
- Article date:
- April 18, 1992
CopyrightCOPYRIGHT 1992 Economist Newspaper Ltd. This material is published under license from the publisher through the Gale Group, Farmington Hills, Michigan. All inquiries regarding rights should be directed to the Gale Group. (Hide copyright information)
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RICH in potassium and vitamins A, B and C, bananas are such wholesome fruit that it seems odd to think of them being ill themselves. Yet through much of the tropics banana trees have been hit by an epidemic that reduces their yields by as much as half. Since 1963, when it first started to blacken the leaves of banana trees in the Sigatoka valley in Fiji, the fungus that causes black Sigatoka disease has spread around the world. Only bananas in some parts of Asia--from whence they originate--and a few other places have escaped. Now help may be at hand for the afflicted areas.
For the large plantations which grow bananas for export, fighting off the scourge has ...