Climate change threatens to disappear in many parts of the world, researchers from Britain say.
In their study, published in the current issue of the journal Nature Climatology, the researchers predicted that banana production would decline sharply in the coming decades in many countries known to grow it, such as India and Brazil, in light of the climate changes predicted by the scientists concerned.
India is the world's largest banana producer, and Brazil ranks fourth in the world.
However, the authors of the study predicted that Ecuador, the world's largest banana exporter, and Honduras, a major producer of this fruit in the world, as well as some African countries, will succeed in improving their banana production in the coming years.
It is noteworthy that bananas are considered in Germany, for example, the second largest favorite fruit, after apples.
Bananas, which grow in tropical and subtropical countries, are a plant of fundamental importance to millions of people around the world.The bananas provide important nutrients.In addition, planting is the source of income for many people.It is the second most important export product in countries such as Ecuador and Costa Rica.
Banana production has risen since the 1960s in light of climate change, in 21 of the 27 countries surveyed, producing 86 percent of the world's bananas, the researchers note.
The researchers pointed out that the banana crop in these countries increased by 1.37 tons per hectare, on average, but the researchers predicted that these increases in production by 2050 clearly decline or disappearance of banana trees completely, especially in ten countries, which are in addition to India and Brazil, For example, Colombia, Costa Rica, Guatemala, Panama and the Philippines are all important countries in banana cultivation.
The researchers, led by Daniel Pepper of the University of Exeter in the computer model, based on the analysis of data on planting bananas in 27 countries, including data on typical weather conditions, including rain conditions, and data on the expected development of climate change in areas of banana production.
Through this analysis, the researchers concluded that banana production is expected to decline significantly in Brazil and Colombia. "We are very concerned about the impact of plant diseases, such as" eggs "or fusarium, which cause the banana wilting, but the impact of climate change has been largely ignored. So far, "Bieber explained.
The National Agricultural Institute (ICA) in Colombia recently reported that a disease that affected bananas, especially in Asia and Africa, has hit bananas on a large scale in the farms of Colombia, the fifth largest exporter of bananas in the world.
According to the official institute, the disease affected bananas in an area of about 175 hectares in the province of La Guajira, northeast of Colombia. The total area planted with bananas in Colombia is about 49 thousand hectares.
The institute confirmed that bananas had been infected with Tropical Disease (TR 4), one of the so-called cystic fungi, which wilts banana plantations.