One Banana, Years of Solitude

Ursula did warn them, she really tried.

All of her children, grandchildren and great grandchildren knew about it. She never ceased to warn them, till the very day she went into the moist soils of Macondo.

She always told them that those who inbred will give birth to iguanas. If not, their children will grow a pig’s tail.

But they never listened.

One of them even asked a soldier, “Can a man marry his own aunt?”.  He responded with, “… We are fighting this war against the priests so that one can marry his own mother!”

And that is how it went on, despite Ursula’s warnings.

Love and desire, like they always do, plotted against logic.

From one generation to the next, they bred with one another. The mistakes of one generation were repeated in the next as brothers married sisters and aunties conceived with their nephews.

Eventually, the last child among the Buendias of Macondo got a pig’s tail. His name was Aureliano, son of Aureliano Babilonia and his aunt Amaranta Ursula.

It is not her family only that she told about the dangers of inbreeding, though.

When the Banana Company first set foot in Macondo, she did warn its agronomists. She told them about it.

She made it clear that if they were to focus on only one variety of the plant, then they will face the same fate. At some point, the plant will have certain limitations, especially against diseases.

Profits and convenience, like they always do, plotted against logic.

They, like the members of her large family, never listened. The Banana Company built a railway line and cleared large tracts of land.

They planted thousands and thousands of hectares of mono-culture Gros Michel bananas. The demand in North America and Europe was the key driver.

This makes some sense since cross-pollinating one banana plant with another was out of question. Their flowers do not allow for that.

Therefore, the company chose to focus on a variety that gave the most yields, and hence returns.

On top of this, they exerted the massive influence of their home government and extensive capital to achieve their business objectives. That included elimination of other cultivars.

They even massacred thousands of Macondo people, just to prove a point.

Thenin the 1950s, forasium wilt (the Panama disease) began its rampage.The fungus destroyed almost all plantations owned by the Banana Company.

In the face of this threat to their operations, the organisation started to look into a new variety that they could produce. And that is how the Cavendish cultivar became the most commercialized banana.

With a massive marketing campaign, the company popularized the variety and pushed up demand. To ensure uniformity of produce, the company continued with its practice of extensive monoculture plantations.

This was bolstered by the fact that it was more powerful than most governments of the time and controlled 90% of the banana market.

This, from an economic point of view, was a genius move. Having a uniform plantations means that you can manage them more efficiently.

This made the whole enterprise more profitable and over time the practice was spread in banana plantations all over the world.

From a genetic point of view, however, it is exactly what Ursula warned against.

The bananas that were planted from one generation to another were essentially ‘inbreeds’ of one another.

Almost all the Cavendish bananas that are stocked in supermarkets today are clones of those cultivars first propagated in Latin America by the Banana Company.

And that is where the danger lies.

As Ursula said, inbreeding strengthens the bad genes in the family, exposing it to dangers such as growing a pig’s tail.

Now, bananas cannot grow tails. However, they are susceptible to certain diseases. A new, stronger strain of the Panama disease is on the rise and can wipe out all Cavendish bananas.

A bunch of Cavendish bananas

This one banana cultivar has enjoyed years of solitude as the mainstay in the fruit market. Since they are all clones of one another, the disease is likely to make them go extinct.

Already, some plantations in Africa such as those in Mozambique and others in the Middle East have already been destroyed by this aggressive fungus.

That is why inbreeding is discouraged not only in humans but also in plants. The gene pool is weakened by such measures.

In the chase for profits, however, this is unlikely to end anytime soon.

As for the banana however, scientists are in a rush against time to identify or breed a new cultivar that is both resistant to the fungus but also commercially viable.

There are hundreds of banana varieties to choose from, but it is a tough job nonetheless.

In the near future, bananas could look very different from what we are used to now. So, enjoy the Cavendish while it lasts.

A Mozambican Plantation ravaged by the disease (CNN)