The international banana industry only has itself to blame for its vulnerability to panama disease, and faces annihilation if the fungus continues to spread, according to an expert on global banana production.

The banana industry is a monoculture, focussing primarily on the growth and trade of the Cavendish banana.

It is the world's largest commercial banana crop, with majority of them produced in Central America, while in Australia the variety accounts for 95 per cent of local production, most of which come from north Queensland.

However, the Cavendish variety is highly susceptible to the major plant pest, Panama Tropical Race 4, which is rampant throughout Asia and the Northern Territory, and is now thought to have spread to a farm in Queensland.

Dan Koeppel is an American food researcher and the author of Banana: The Fate of the Fruit that Changed the World.

"The industry has literally put all its bananas in one basket and now it's paying the price," he said.

"Panama disease devastates the commercial Cavendish banana, which is the banana that most people in temperate zones eat.

"Cavendish is a big business, a big cash crop and an important staple. Tropical Race 4 threatens that."

Mr Koeppel says the fungus has already spread through Asia, particularly China, the Philippines, Malaysia and Taiwan, and also more recently to Africa.

But he says spread of panama disease in Australia, including to the Northern Territory in the 90's, is a bad omen for the fate of the global Cavendish industry.

"It's a big problem because Australia leads the way in helping us understand how banana problems will play out [globally]," Mr Koeppel said.

"Australia is a first world country and a lot of resources, desire, education, communication and a lot of will [to control the fungus], but all of this will and desire to stop this disease hasn't worked that well.

"If Australia can't slow this disease down for its own domestic banana crop, how is it going to happen in places less organised, less wealthy and less able to implement the measures Australia is trying to impalement?"

Protecting the world's supply of bananas

Australia is by no means the world's largest supplier of bananas. Although an outbreak of Panama Tropical Race 4 locally would have a major impact on domestic supplies, the international market would be unharmed.

However, as the fungus continues to spread, it's the banana powerhouse region of Central America, where the vast majority of the world's export bananas are grown, that has the most fear.

"Most people agree that it will [get to Latin America] and it could happen any day," Mr Koeppel said.

Latin and Central America supplies 82 percent of the world's bananas, with Ecuador as the major grower, supplying over third of the growing export market.

Latin America is the world's largest supplier of bananas ( The Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations )

According to the UN's Food and Agriculture Organisation the world production of bananas reached 102 million tonnes in 2010.

That's a jump of almost 50 percent, compared to the 65 million tonnes that were produced in 2000, and more than double the amount grown in 1990.

"The world banana crop is about 100 million metric tonnes, which is a huge amount, and it's been increasing as demand for bananas increase," Mr Koeppel said.

"In terms of dollars, it comes out to about $1500 per tonne, so it's quite a large number. It's the billions."

Mr Koeppel says the spread of Panama disease is putting the growing industry at risk, and that the industry needs to shift its focus away from Cavendish to insure its viability into the future.

"Banana companies are lazy and they like what works, even if it's not working, and it's tough to find a replacement banana," he said.

Space to play or pause, M to mute, left and right arrows to seek, up and down arrows for volume. Listen Duration: 9 minutes 7 seconds 9 m Dan Koeppel, the author of Banana: The Fate of the Fruit that Changed the World, says the international banana industry only has itself to blame for its vulnerability to panama disease ( Marty McCarthy ) Download 4.2 MB

"To be an export quality banana there has to be a bunch of qualities that are important, like toughness during shipping, or ripening in the right amount of days.

"Only the Cavendish, according to conventional wisdom, meets the checkmarks for an export banana.

"They are stuck with that banana, but I think they are stuck because of a mindset, in the same way McDonalds is stuck with hamburgers, because that's the way they think."

Lessons from the past, and is genetic modification the future?

The Cavendish wasn't always the world's most popular banana, and its fate may lie in the story of its failed predecessor, the Gros Michel.

"The Cavendish is the default banana, it wasn't the first commercial banana," Mr Koeppel said.

"The first variety was a different breed, called Gros Michel, that was wiped out by a different variety of panama disease."

The Gros Michel was a cultivar, remembered for its sweetness, that dominated the banana export market until the 1950s, before falling victim to disease.

Dianne West is an organic banana grower on Queensland's Sunshine Coast. She says the history of the Gros Michel is unsurprising, given the monoculture of the banana industry.

"Because bananas are a monoculture, all the planting material comes from the mother plants, either by cloning or by taking bits and suckers off," she said.

"Genetically, they are all identical which makes them very susceptible to disease."

Banana growers are being urged to immediately stop vehicles moving on and off their properties to minimise the risk of spreading Panama tropical race 4 ( Supplied )

Mr Koeppel says the industry got lucky when it stumbled across the Cavendish as a replacement, following the loss of Gros Michel production.

He says there are alternatives to the Cavendish, but says another solution is to breed bananas that are resistant to panama disease, including through genetic modification.

"There's a breed of Cavendish bred in Taiwan that appears to be resistant, or more resistant, to panama disease, although more testing is needed," he said.

"There are alternative varieties of banana that are absolutely delicious, the Cavendish is a terrible tasting banana. So a banana market with a lot of variety and choice would not be a bad thing for consumers.

"You're going to need a mix of bananas, a variety, in the market. Included in that variety is a commodity banana, a banana that's relatively inexpensive.

"My guess is it's going to be some resistant variety of Cavendish, and there's a very strong chance that it will be a genetically modified one.

"There are such bananas being developed in Queensland right now, and scientists know that because bananas are so hard to breed you need genetic engineering as a way to quickly jump-start the breeding."

But despite what he says is an urgent need for banana development and innovation, Mr Koeppel admits consumers may not be ready for GM bananas.

"There's going to be huge problems with consumer acceptance of a genetically modified banana," he said.

"Personally, I believe, a GMO banana would be safe and desirable and is needed. But it's going to be very difficult to actually get those on to the market."

In the short term, Mr Koeppel says a concerted effort, both domestically and internationally, is needed to protect the world's banana from panama disease.

"How do you slow it? You need absolute coordination between industry, government, farmers, residents, workers, everybody," he said.