Date:26/05/2006 URL: http://www.thehindubusinessline.com/2006/05/26/stories/2006052603751400.htm

Back Going extinct

K.K.Mustafah

TASTY ONE: Buds of plantain (banana flower) kept for sale at a shop in Kochi. Wild Indian bananas of the Cavendish variety and pulpy dessert banana are facing extinction, according to the Food and Agricultural Organisation.

The National Research Centre on Banana in Tiruchi has begun the process of cataloguing the surviving wild species. India is the world's biggest banana grower, with the annual production being 16.8 million tonnes.