Eat bananas while you can as you may not be able to taste them again unless Science solves the problem.

The most popular fruit crop in the world is being threatened by fungal diseases which may result in its extinction.

The edible fruit is a result of a natural genetic accident. Bananas marketed in the Western regions come from the species of subgroup Cavendish. These sterile and propagation-dependent species is cloned in several ways including the use of suckers, underground stem cutting or tissue culture.

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The species with a bright yellow color is vulnerability to diseases. In the past, the fruit already suffered from fungal infections and it is possible that the unfortunate incident will happen again.

The Big Mike variety, which is also known as Gros Michael, was the market's favorites until the 1960s. In fact, thousands of hectares of Latin American tropical forests were converted for the variety's farming. Panama disease caused by Fusarium oxysporum f.sp. cubence almost brought Big Mike to extinction leading to the collapse of the export industry.

The pathogen affects the vascular system and roots of banana trees which makes the transportation of nutrition and water transport impossible. Fusarium is hard to resist as it dwells on the soil making replanting of the trees impossible.

In response to the outbreak, science created the Cavendish variety resistant to the devastating disease. However, the world's most exported banana variety is highly susceptible to Black Sigatoka caused by Pseudicercospora filiensis that targets its leaves and eventually leading to cell death. The variety is also threatened by a stronger Fusarium oxysporum Tropical Race 4.

Farmers are controlling Black Sigatoka through combination treatments including the use of fungicides and pruning. The downside of the heavy use of chemicals is its adverse environmental and health effect. Meanwhile, T4 is harder to prevent and farmers only depend on temporary solutions to control possible outbreak.

More than 100 million metric tons of bananas are produced yearly in more than a hundred tropical and subtropical nations.

Experts advise that more genetic diversity is needed to trim down banana's vulnerability.