Ecuador is the world’s largest exporter of bananas - supplying 70 different countries and responsible for a third of global exports. In September 2025, they reported their first official case of Fusarium oxysporum, special form Cubense, Tropical Race 4. The modern banana plague. The Ecuadorean authorities rapidly quarantined the area, and so far it seems to have been contained to small regions. But the fungus has been spreading elsewhere. It has been wrecking havoc in Southeast Asia since it first emerged there in the late 1960s. And in 2019, it entered Latin America for the first time. First in Colombia and then Peru and then Venezuela. Fusarium is one of the most destructive plant diseases ever discovered. In today’s video, we discuss the Banana. Ever convenient. Ever delicious. Now in a slow-burn crisis.
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