FAO Sees Banana Trade Weathering Economic Slump
December 11, 2009 |
Bananas are withstanding the impact of the global financial crisis more than other agricultural commodities, the UN Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) said in a new report. The report predicts that developing countries will continue to register an increase in demand for the fruit, with imports seen to rise 2.5 percent to 2.33 million tons in 2009, driven largely by China. FAO also said that if the recession bottoms out by the end of this year, then the demand for bananas will increase by up to 8 percent next year.
FAO, however, is calling for more resources to go towards creating a global map of banana and plantain diseases. FAO noted that banana diseases could cost growers, particularly small-scale farmers, some USD 4 billion in 2010. Banana Bunchy Top Disease and Banana Bacterial Wilt threaten the food security of 70 million people in 15 countries in sub-Saharan Africa who depend on bananas for their livelihood and food supply. "[The diseases] merit far greater investment in public awareness, basic and applied research and farmer training and production services to growers," said FAO in the report.
For more information, read http://www.fao.org/news/story/en/item/38013/icode/
|
Biotech Updates is a weekly newsletter of ISAAA, a not-for-profit organization. It is distributed for free to over 22,000 subscribers worldwide to inform them about the key developments in biosciences, especially in biotechnology. Your support will help us in our mission to feed the world with knowledge. You can help by donating as little as $10.
-
See more articles:
-
News from Around the World
- Agriculture and Rural Development Day in Copenhagen
- FAO Sees Banana Trade Weathering Economic Slump
- Food Prices on the Rise Again, Reports UN Agency
- IRRI and Bayer Team up to Improve Rice Productivity
- Challenges and Opportunities for Biotechnology in Africa
- Ghana Identifies Need for Biotech in Agriculture
- Fungal Biocontrol for the Ascochyta Blight
- Canada to Increase Canola Oil Export to China
- Farm Groups File Brief Against Biotech Alfalfa Ban
- APHIS Deregulates Herbicide-Tolerant Corn
- BASF and Monsanto Ink Corn Development Pact
- Taiwan, South Korea Approve Eight-Trait GM Corn for Import
- China Launches Project on GMO Security Assessment and Testing
- India's ICAR Professor Honored with Ernesto Illy Trieste Science Prize
- Biotech Tools Improve Biomass Quality of Sorghum
- Press Conference for 4th China Bioindustry Convention 2010
- Bt Brinjal is a Safe Breakthrough: Indian Minister of S&T
- China to Develop Third-Generation Genome Sequencing Instrument
- Bangladeshi Agric Minister Bats for Biotech
- The Blooming Orchid Industry in Malaysia
- Discussion on the Regulation of Biotech-Derived Food Products in Indonesia
- Amylopectin Potatoes by Precision Breeding
-
Research Highlights
- Carbon Monoxide Enhances Plant Tolerance to Iron Starvation
- Transgenic Cassava Plants Resist Pathogen and Insect Attacks
- New Relationship Between Gene Duplication and Alternative Splicing in Plants
-
Announcements
- International Conference on Biotechnology Based Sustainable Agriculture
- International Conference on Agribiotech in Uganda
- Pan Arab Biodiversity Conference
-
Read the latest: - Biotech Updates (September 18, 2024)
- Gene Editing Supplement (September 11, 2024)
- Gene Drive Supplement (February 22, 2023)
-
Subscribe to BU: - Share
- Tweet