Banana Link
Banana Link is a not-for-profit cooperative founded in 1996 and based in Norwich, UK. We work to make tangible changes in the lives of people working in the banana and pineapple chains. We advocate fair and ethical business practices, the dignity of workers and respect for labour and trade union rights, sustainable production systems and constructive dialogue between all stakeholders.
Most popular banana
The most popular banana is the Cavendish (Musa acuminata "Dwarf Cavendish" or Musa AAA), accounting for 47–57% of global production. Between 50 and 80 billion tonnes of Cavendish bananas are produced each year. Their sweet and easily digestible flesh (pulp), combined with their resilience and high yield, makes them one of the most widely traded food crops in the world.
The Cavendish is named after William Cavendish, the 6th Duke of Devonshire (UK) who, in the 1830s, received a gift of bananas from the chaplain of Alton Towers in Staffordshire, UK. The bananas – sourced from Mauritius – were cultivated by the Duke's gardener, Joseph Paxton (later Sir), who yielded more than 100 trees. Specimens were donated to missionaries, who took the plants to Samoa, from where they spread to other Pacific islands and beyond. By the turn of the 20th century, the Cavendish was being mass produced and finally overtook the Gros Michel (aka "Big Mike") as the world's dominant variety, largely as a result of the devastating effect of Fusarium wilt (aka Panama disease) on the Gros Michel cultivar.
Research published in 2020 by CIRAC – the French Agricultural Research Centre for International Development – and based on reports from surveys, professional sources and the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations, estimated that of the 149.4 million tonnes of bananas produced in 2018, nearly 80 million tonnes were Cavendish.
However, over the last decade, an outbreak of Panama disease (particularly the Tropical Race 4 strain) has threatened the production of Cavendish bananas, alerting growers to the fact that the banana remains at risk from this pathogen.