Will bananas be extinct in the near future?

Question

I heard about 3 years ago that in 10 years they will be gone

Answer 1

The problem with bananas is that the edible ones are all exactly the same species, the Cavendish variety. The gene pool is very shallow. This means that they are very susceptible to being wiped out by some disease.

The disease hasn't come around yet, though. Until it does, there's nothing to worry about.

If there -was- a disease that attacked bananas, horticulturalists all over the world would begin working feverishly on a new variety that could be sold. They might be a little different from the bananas we know & love, but there would still be bananas.

Answer 2

Not likely. The Cavendish is the most common but not the only variety. Several others are becoming more common now. Also they are distributed over so much of the world that a disease or insect might devastate one region but others would probably not be affected. Like rubber plantations in South America were ruined but the ones in Indonesia did not have the natural pests and so thrived.

Answer 3

It isn't very likely they are now growing in regions where they never have been before, so expect to see other brands apart from Dole and Bonito