One of the world’s most popular fruits is facing extinction—again.

Fifty years ago, the world enjoyed a better tasting, longer lasting and more resilient banana, the Gros Michel. Until 1965, the fruit was the world’s export banana and king of the banana world.

That year, the Gros Michel banana faced extinction in all commercial purposes, falling victim to the Panama disease—a fungal disease that quickly spread from Central America to the majority of the world’s plantations, causing farmers to burn down their crops.

With a need to fill a void the Gros Michel left, the world settled for the next best thing. The Cavendish banana, an inferior, bland tasting, yet Panama-disease-resistant string emerged and is the type of yellow fruit you find in your kitchen or grocery today.

<img class="styles__noscript__2rw2y" src="https://dsx.weather.com//util/image/w/banana2.jpg?v=at&w=485&h=273&api=7db9fe61-7414-47b5-9871-e17d87b8b6a0" srcset="https://dsx.weather.com//util/image/w/banana2.jpg?v=at&w=485&h=273&api=7db9fe61-7414-47b5-9871-e17d87b8b6a0 400w, https://dsx.weather.com//util/image/w/banana2.jpg?v=ap&w=980&h=551&api=7db9fe61-7414-47b5-9871-e17d87b8b6a0 800w" > Indian fruit vendors wait for customers as they sell bananas on the roadside in Amritsar on April 1, 2015. (NARINDER NANU/AFP/Getty Images) (NARINDER NANU/AFP/Getty Images)

However, its immunity to Panama disease is in question now with a newly surfaced strain of the infection. And because the Cavendish is monoculture, meaning most commercial grows only plant one type, once the disease infects one plant, it can taint them all.

Experts now fear that the new, more virulent strand of Panama disease will crush the Cavendish like it had the Gros Michel. The banana industry is worth an estimated $11-billion, according to Fox News.

After tracing the makeup of the fungus found in numerous impacted places, a research team’s latest study confirms that the culprit is a clone of Panama disease named Tropical Race 4, according to Gert Kema, a banana expert at Wageningen University and Research Center and co-author of the study.

“We know that the origin of [Tropical Race 4] is in Indonesia and that it spread from there, most likely first into Taiwan and then into China and the rest of Southeast Asia,” Kema told Quartz, a global news outlet.

Part of the problem, however, is that the fungus can’t just simply be killed. To limit the infection, it must be contained, something that hasn’t gone according to plan.

“Research demonstrates that the quarantine measures and information provided around the globe apparently have not had the desired effect ,” explained Kema in a recent news release.

Since 2013, TR4 has spread to parts of South Asia, the Middle East, Africa, and Australia. While it does take time for the disease to spread, once TR4 infects a plant, it travels up the roots and spoils entire crops, contaminating plots for years.

Essentially, history could repeat itself and the world could have to look toward an alternative banana in place of the fallen Cavendish.

However, Tropical Race 4 isn’t the only factor harming the bananas. Monoculture, Dan Koeppel, author of the book “Banana: The fate of the fruit that changed the world”, is just as threatening to the world’s bananas.

"India had about 600 varieties, but over the past two decades the Cavendish has pushed out and replaced many of those . And when you replace a varied multiculture with a monoculture, if a disease happens, you're in trouble: nature comes back and bites you," Koeppel told CNN.

"Monoculture to me is just as much a disease as TP4," he mentioned.

With extinction pending, banana experts will have to find a solution to the world’s problem. Whether that means finding the next Cavendish or creating a hybrid is to be decided, but for now we’ll have to wait and see.

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