Dec 18, 2013 11:31 AM EST By Staff Reporter, UniversityHerald Reporter

The most commonly cultivated banana, the Cavendish, is under threat from infection, Nature.com reported. Luckily for the industry, the fungus hasn't made it to Latin America, where 80 percent of the world's bananas are grown and exported. Even if it did, farmers always have a backup plan -- as they did when a similar fungus wiped out the leading strain, or cultivar, in the 1950s -- but execution of such a plan would result in significant financial losses.

For now, migrant workers in Mozambique and Jordan -- two areas where the soil fungus Tropical Race 4 (Foc-TR4) has been confirmed -- are attempting to mitigate its spread by focusing on soil hygiene and destroying infected plants, Nature.com reported. They've got an uphill climb, however, as Foc-TR4 has likely been in the ground for 2-3 years, according to Altus Viljoen, a scientist at Stellenbosch University in South Africa who's traveled to Mozambique to research the fungus' outbreak.

Fellow researcher Gert Kema, who co-authored a late October study documenting the spread of Foc-TR4 in Jordan (the first report published outside of the two countries in question), worries the fungus will spread to Latin America and force farmers to adapt a new type of banana, according to Nature.com.

"I'm incredibly concerned," Kema said. "I will not be surprised if it pops up in Latin America in the near future."

Scientists have known about Foc-TR4 since it emerged in Southeast Asia in 1992, but only recently has its presence been detected in Africa. Attempts to develop a resistant strain are in progress with no conclusive results, according to James Dale, director of the Centre for Tropical Crops and Bio commodities at Queensland University of Technology in Brisbane, Australia. One positive, however, may yet emerge: Dale hopes to bring back the leading banana that was wiped out in the 50's, according to Nature.com

"It's such a superior banana to Cavendish," he said. "To bring it back would be wonderful."

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