Cuba Perfects Wind-Resistant Banana Plants

by Susan Davis on 29/06/09 at 8:57 am

Revolutionary bananas

Plant scientists in Cuba have been working to perfect a genetically engineered banana plant, which will be shorter in stature and more resistant to the brutal, hurricane-force winds that often topple and destroy the traditional, taller banana plants during severe tropical storms.  Experts from the Plant Biotechnology Institute in Santa Clara, which is part of the Universidad Central de las Villas, are developing these plants, which will also produce smaller bananas.

According to Cuban Headlines Digital Edition, Pedro Orellano, a researcher at the Institute, told Cuba’s National Information Agency that they have been working to develop in vitro plants that are less than three feet high, which will tolerate Cuba’s severe hurricane weather conditions.

The Institute has already supplied a grower in one of Cuba’s provinces with enough plants to cultivate 25 acres with a new banana of the “Cavendish Enano” variety.  The first harvest from these plants will be available within the month.  The researchers and growers are confident that these new bananas will provide a much more stable supply, as losses during hurricanes would be minimal.