We love to eat bananas. The nutritious, easy-to-peel fruit is the most widely consumed fruit in America and has become a staple of the Western diet, even though the crop is primarily grown elsewhere, such as the tropical areas of Southeast Asia, the Middle East, Africa, and Latin America.
Global banana exports reached a record high of 16.5 million metric tons (18.15 tons) in 2012, most destined for the United States and Europe, which together account for about 54 percent of the all bananas traded internationally.
A fungal disease currently spreading across banana plantations is threatening to wipe out the Cavendish crop.
