Scientific opinion on the import of Musa fruits as a pathway for the entry of non‐EU Tephritidae into the EU territory
2021; Wiley; Volume: 19; Issue: 3 Linguagem: Inglês
10.2903/j.efsa.2021.6426
ISSN1831-4732
AutoresClaude Bragard, Katharina Dehnen‐Schmutz, Francesco Di Serio, Paolo Gonthier, Marie‐Agnès Jacques, Josep Anton Jaques Miret, Annemarie Fejer Justesen, Alan MacLeod, Christer Sven Magnusson, Panagiotis Milonas, Juan A Navas‐Cortés, Stephen Parnell, Roel Potting, Philippe Lucien Reignault, Hans‐Hermann Thulke, Antonio Vicent Civera, Jonathan Yuen, Lucia Zappalà, Nikos T. Papadopoulos, Stella A. Papanastasiou, Ewelina Czwienczek, Virág Kertész, Alan MacLeod,
Tópico(s)Research on scale insects
ResumoEFSA JournalVolume 19, Issue 3 e06426 Scientific OpinionOpen Access Scientific opinion on the import of Musa fruits as a pathway for the entry of non-EU Tephritidae into the EU territory EFSA Panel on Plant Health (PLH), Corresponding Author EFSA Panel on Plant Health (PLH) alpha@efsa.europa.eu Correspondence:alpha@efsa.europa.euSearch for more papers by this authorClaude Bragard, Claude BragardSearch for more papers by this authorKatharina Dehnen-Schmutz, Katharina Dehnen-SchmutzSearch for more papers by this authorFrancesco Di Serio, Francesco Di SerioSearch for more papers by this authorPaolo Gonthier, Paolo GonthierSearch for more papers by this authorMarie-Agnès Jacques, Marie-Agnès JacquesSearch for more papers by this authorJosep Anton Jaques Miret, Josep Anton Jaques MiretSearch for more papers by this authorAnnemarie Fejer Justesen, Annemarie Fejer JustesenSearch for more papers by this authorAlan MacLeod, Alan MacLeodSearch for more papers by this authorChrister Sven Magnusson, Christer Sven MagnussonSearch for more papers by this authorPanagiotis Milonas, Panagiotis MilonasSearch for more papers by this authorJuan A Navas-Cortes, Juan A Navas-CortesSearch for more papers by this authorStephen Parnell, Stephen ParnellSearch for more papers by this authorRoel Potting, Roel PottingSearch for more papers by this authorPhilippe Lucien Reignault, Philippe Lucien ReignaultSearch for more papers by this authorHans-Hermann Thulke, Hans-Hermann ThulkeSearch for more papers by this authorAntonio Vicent Civera, Antonio Vicent CiveraSearch for more papers by this authorJonathan Yuen, Jonathan YuenSearch for more papers by this authorLucia Zappalà, Lucia ZappalàSearch for more papers by this authorNikolaos Papadopoulos, Nikolaos PapadopoulosSearch for more papers by this authorStella Papanastasiou, Stella PapanastasiouSearch for more papers by this authorEwelina Czwienczek, Ewelina CzwienczekSearch for more papers by this authorVirág Kertész, Virág KertészSearch for more papers by this authorAlan MacLeod, Alan MacLeodSearch for more papers by this author EFSA Panel on Plant Health (PLH), Corresponding Author EFSA Panel on Plant Health (PLH) alpha@efsa.europa.eu Correspondence:alpha@efsa.europa.euSearch for more papers by this authorClaude Bragard, Claude BragardSearch for more papers by this authorKatharina Dehnen-Schmutz, Katharina Dehnen-SchmutzSearch for more papers by this authorFrancesco Di Serio, Francesco Di SerioSearch for more papers by this authorPaolo Gonthier, Paolo GonthierSearch for more papers by this authorMarie-Agnès Jacques, Marie-Agnès JacquesSearch for more papers by this authorJosep Anton Jaques Miret, Josep Anton Jaques MiretSearch for more papers by this authorAnnemarie Fejer Justesen, Annemarie Fejer JustesenSearch for more papers by this authorAlan MacLeod, Alan MacLeodSearch for more papers by this authorChrister Sven Magnusson, Christer Sven MagnussonSearch for more papers by this authorPanagiotis Milonas, Panagiotis MilonasSearch for more papers by this authorJuan A Navas-Cortes, Juan A Navas-CortesSearch for more papers by this authorStephen Parnell, Stephen ParnellSearch for more papers by this authorRoel Potting, Roel PottingSearch for more papers by this authorPhilippe Lucien Reignault, Philippe Lucien ReignaultSearch for more papers by this authorHans-Hermann Thulke, Hans-Hermann ThulkeSearch for more papers by this authorAntonio Vicent Civera, Antonio Vicent CiveraSearch for more papers by this authorJonathan Yuen, Jonathan YuenSearch for more papers by this authorLucia Zappalà, Lucia ZappalàSearch for more papers by this authorNikolaos Papadopoulos, Nikolaos PapadopoulosSearch for more papers by this authorStella Papanastasiou, Stella PapanastasiouSearch for more papers by this authorEwelina Czwienczek, Ewelina CzwienczekSearch for more papers by this authorVirág Kertész, Virág KertészSearch for more papers by this authorAlan MacLeod, Alan MacLeodSearch for more papers by this author First published: 08 March 2021 https://doi.org/10.2903/j.efsa.2021.6426 Requestor: European Commission Question number: EFSA-Q-2020-00338 Panel members: Claude Bragard, Katharina Dehnen-Schmutz, Francesco Di Serio, Paolo Gonthier, Marie-Agnès Jacques, Josep Anton Jaques Miret, Annemarie Fejer Justesen, Alan MacLeod, Christer Sven Magnusson, Panagiotis Milonas, Juan A Navas-Cortes, Stephen Parnell, Roel Potting, Philippe L Reignault, Hans-Hermann Thulke, Wopke Van der Werf, Antonio Vicent Civera, Jonathan Yuen and Lucia Zappalà. Reproduction of the images listed below is prohibited and permission must be sought directly from the copyright holder: Figure 1: © Raimundo Cabrera Pérez (University of La Laguna, Canary Islands, Spain), Figure 2a, 8j,k: © Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations. Reproduced with permission, Figure 2b: © Wikimedia Commons, Figure 3, 6, 8a,c,d,e,f,g,h,i: © Rony Swennen (Katholieke Universiteit Leuven (Belgium)/IITA, International Institute of Tropical Agriculture (Tanzania), Figure 5: © Timothy Pilgrim, Figure 7 a,b: © 2014 Regents of the University of California. Used by permission, Figure 8b: © John Golding (NSW Department of Primary Industries, Australia). Declarations of interest: The declarations of interest of all scientific experts active in EFSA's work are available at https://ess.efsa.europa.eu/doi/doiweb/doisearch. Acknowledgements: The Panel thanks for the information provided to this scientific output by the hearing experts: David Horta Lopes (University of the Azores, Portugal), John Golding (NSW Department of Primary Industries, Australia), Rony Swennen (Katholieke Universiteit Leuven(Belgium)/IITA, International Institute of Tropical Agriculture (Tanzania), Raimundo Cabrera Pérez (University of La Laguna, Canary Islands, Spain), Antonio D. González Hernández (Government of the Canary Islands, Ministry of Agriculture, Livestock and Fisheries. Directorate General of Agriculture, Spain). Adopted: 28 January 2021 AboutSectionsPDF ToolsExport citationAdd to favoritesTrack citation ShareShare Give accessShare full text accessShare full-text accessPlease review our Terms and Conditions of Use and check box below to share full-text version of article.I have read and accept the Wiley Online Library Terms and Conditions of UseShareable LinkUse the link below to share a full-text version of this article with your friends and colleagues. Learn more.Copy URL Share a linkShare onFacebookTwitterLinkedInRedditWechat Abstract Following a request from the European Commission, the EFSA Panel on Plant Health examined evidence as to whether the import of fruits of Musa (bananas and plantains) could provide a pathway into the EU for Bactrocera dorsalis (Hendel) (Diptera: Tephritidae) or other non-EU Tephritidae for which Musa is a host. Relevant scientific and technical information, including unpublished information provided to the EFSA Panel on Plant Health by the European Commission from research conducted in Cabo Verde, were taken into account. The majority of EU imports of Musa fruit comes from Ecuador, Colombia and Costa Rica where B. dorsalis does not occur. Commercial Musa fruits are harvested at 'green stage one' before they begin to ripen naturally. Postharvest processes are designed to ensure that only high quality, unripe fruit are exported. Green stage one fruit are transported to the EU in controlled conditions and stimulated to ripen when exposed to exogenous ethylene in ripening rooms in the EU. There is no evidence that any Tephritidae can naturally infest commercial varieties of Musa fruit at green stage one or earlier. When experimentally infested with eggs of Tephritidae, larvae fail to develop in green stage one fruit. Physical and chemical changes that occur during fruit ripening enable B. dorsalis and 11 other species of Tephritidae to oviposit and develop in Musa at later stages of fruit development. Reports of B. dorsalis or other Tephritidae infesting bunches of Musa fruit are a consequence of the fruit being left to develop beyond green stage one in the field. There is no evidence that commercially grown fruits of Musa, for export to the EU, provide a pathway for the entry of non-EU Tephritidae. Passengers bringing Musa fruit from countries where Tephritidae can infest ripened Musa fruit do however provide a potential pathway for the entry of non-EU Tephritidae into the EU territory. Summary Following a request from the European Commission, the EFSA Panel on Plant Health examined evidence as to whether the import of fruits of Musa (banana and plantains) could provide a pathway for the introduction of Bactrocera dorsalis (Hendel) (Diptera: Tephritidae), the oriental fruit fly, or other non-EU Tephritidae, into the territory of the EU. The Terms of Reference (ToR) specified that industry practices in relation to the harvest, storage and transport of fruits of Musa, before they enter the Union territory, be taken into account. Literature searches were conducted in English, French and Spanish, the languages most commonly used in countries exporting Musa fruits to the EU. Relevant scientific and technical information, including unpublished information provided to the EFSA Panel on Plant Health by the European Commission from a study conducted in Cabo Verde, were taken into account. Banana is grown in over 130 countries around the world and whilst primarily a tropical fruit, it is also grown in the subtropics and in greenhouses at latitudes outside of the subtropics. Production in the tropics occurs all year round. The vast majority of Musa cultivars are derived from crosses between M. acuminata and M. balbisiana. Due to the long history of hybridisation, there are now approximately 130 recognised Musa varieties, although due to undocumented varieties in South-east Asia, there may be as many as 500 cultivars in the world. The Cavendish subgroup of cultivars which includes 'Grande Naine', 'Dwarf Cavendish', 'Williams' and 'Valery' dominates the international trade in banana; 'False Horn' is the plantain variety that is predominantly imported by the EU. Most banana production is consumed locally. Fifteen percent of world production is exported with the EU being one of the three main export markets alongside the USA and Japan. The EU sources ~ 70% of imported bananas from South and Central America, specifically from Ecuador, Colombia and Costa Rica. Côte d'Ivoire and Cameroon are important suppliers of dessert bananas to the EU from Africa. Ecuador and Colombia provide more than 90% of plantains imported into the EU. According to FAOSTAT Uganda and Côte d'Ivoire are the main sources of plantains and cooking bananas to the EU from Africa, although they provide relatively small amounts, e.g. 1.1% and 0.3% of such EU imports in 2019, respectively. The Von Loesecke scale is used to describe the development of banana fruit maturing and ripening on a scale consisting of seven classes and is based on peel colour. Harvesting of bananas for export to the EU always takes place during stage one, also called 'mature green' when the fruit reaches the diameter required for harvesting. Harvesting of plantains also occurs during mature green stage one. If harvested later than stage one, the fruit will begin to ripen naturally, synthesising and releasing ethylene during transport. As a consequence, the fruit will not reach the EU in a suitable state for marketing because early ripening leads to a shortened shelf-life. However, when harvested at stage one, ripening can be delayed by storing and shipping the fruit in controlled conditions, 13–15°C with low oxygen and high carbon dioxide concentrations. For this reason, the harvesting of banana and plantains for export always takes place when fruits are at mature green stage one. On arrival in the EU, fruit can continue to be stored for a few days and are ripened in ripening rooms where the fruit is exposed to exogenous ethylene over 4–7 days. During the ripening process, the peel changes colour from green to the more familiar yellow. Twelve species of non-EU Tephritidae can infest ripening Musa fruits, i.e. infest fruits at ripening stages beyond the mature green stage one. Eleven species belong to the genus Bactrocera and are distributed mainly in tropical Asia and Oceania. The polyphagous species B. dorsalis is the most widespread and occurs in all of tropical Asia, most of Africa and tropical islands in the Pacific Ocean, including French Polynesia and Hawaii. It continues to spread in Africa. It is not present in South or Central America where the EU sources the majority of bananas and plantains. However, B. dorsalis is present in African countries that export Musa fruit to the EU. The twelfth species of Tephritidae able to infest ripening Musa is Ceratitis cosyra (Walker), which occurs in sub-Saharan Africa. Studies examining whether Tephritidae can infest green stage one bananas can be found from the early 20th century. There have also been more recent studies using field cages around bunches of bananas and in which the population density of Tephritidae was artificially high. Under such conditions, females attempt oviposition in green mature stage one fruit. Oviposition punctures cause an exudate to be released from the peel which seals the wound and can prevent females from laying an egg in the sealed puncture. Eggs artificially introduced into stage one fruit do not survive, perhaps due to the chemical composition of the substrate. In stage one, the pulp of fruit contains a high concentration of tannins, there is a lack of free water, and starch concentrations are high. As the fruit ripens tannins and starch break down and more water becomes available. The peel also softens enabling females to successfully oviposit. Changes in the pulp allow eggs to hatch and larvae to develop in ripening fruit beyond green stage one. In response to the question posed to EFSA by the European Commission on whether the commercial import of fruits of Musa (bananas and plantains) could provide a potential pathway for the introduction of B. dorsalis and other non-EU Tephritidae, for which Musa fruits are a host, the EFSA Panel on Plant Health concludes no. Reports of B. dorsalis infesting and developing on green bananas in Cabo Verde do not detail the precise stage when oviposition occurred in the fruits. Whilst taking part in the Working group, hearing experts, including those who originally took the photographs in Cabo Verde, reviewed the photographic evidence, and concluded that the fruit was beyond mature green stage one. The Panel went on to consider whether bananas and/or plantains carried in passenger baggage entering the EU could provide a potential pathway for the introduction of B. dorsalis and other non-EU Tephritidae, for which Musa fruits are a host. Bananas and plantains grown for domestic consumption may be harvested at ripening stages later than stage one in some countries. Even if harvested at stage one, bananas remain potentially exposed to fruit flies whilst ripening beyond stage one. Musa fruits maturing beyond stage one become potential hosts for 12 species of non-EU Tephritidae and whilst ripening, oviposition and further development of immature life stages is possible in the fruit. Passengers are allowed to carry small amounts of some plant products, including fruits, with them when travelling to the EU. It is therefore possible that unknowingly infested Musa fruit could be carried in luggage by international travellers arriving into the EU. 1 Introduction 1.1 Background and Terms of Reference as provided by the requestor 1.1.1 Background Bactrocera dorsalis (Hendel) is a polyphagous fruit fly of the family Tephritidae. It is not known to occur in the EU and it is regulated as a Union Quarantine Pest i.e. it is included in the annexes of Commission Implementing Regulation (EU) 2019/2072. The pest is polyphagous and has a strong dispersal power. Banana (Musa sp.) is known to be a host for B. dorsalis. Fruits of Musa sp. are included into Annex XI, part C of Implementing Regulation (EU) 2019/2072; therefore, a phytosanitary certificate is not required for the introduction into the Union territory. In trade, fresh fruits of Musa sp. are divided into plantains (eaten after cooking, CN code 0803 10 10) and dessert bananas (eaten raw, CN code 0803 90 10). The vast majority of bananas imported into the EU belong to the (dessert banana) variety Cavendish. They are harvested in an unripe stage and transported under cool conditions to the country of destination in order to delay ripening. In August 2019, the Commission was made aware of research showing that in Cabo Verde Cavendish bananas of different ripening stages are infested by tephritid fruit flies, including Bactrocera dorsalis. Although the exact stages in which the bananas were infested have not been recorded by the researchers (pers. comm.), it is important to clarify whether import of bananas is a potential pathway for non-EU Tephritidae. 1.1.2 Terms of Reference EFSA is requested to deliver an opinion whether the importation of fruits of banana (Musa sp.) into the EU constitutes a potential pathway for the introduction of B. dorsalis and other non-EU Tephritidae for which Musa sp. is a host. In this opinion, EFSA shall put particular emphasis on the importation of green Cavendish bananas, but other varieties of dessert bananas and plantains should be considered as well. In order to reach that conclusion, EFSA shall take also into account all relevant scientific and technical information, including data collected in Cabo Verde and made available to the Commission, as well the available information on best practices and common practices in use in harvest, storage and transport of fruits of Musa sp. before they enter the Union territory. 1.2 Interpretation of the Terms of Reference Following clarification of some aspects of the Terms of Reference (ToR) from the requestor, the EFSA Panel on Plant Health (hereafter Panel) interpreted the ToR as a request to provide an opinion as to whether the commercial trade in cultivated varieties of Musa, either unripe banana ('green banana') or unripe plantain fruits, imported by the EU from third countries provides a potential pathway for the entry of B. dorsalis, an EU priority pest (EC 2019/1702) or other non-EU Tephritidae for which Musa is listed as a host. Although the ToR explicitly refers to green banana, i.e. unripe fruits, following the clarification, the Panel expanded the remit of the opinion to consider whether ripe bananas carried in passenger baggage could be a potential pathway. The risk elements describing likelihood of establishment, spread and impact were not within the scope of this opinion. To inform the opinion particular attention is needed on the best practices and common practices used in the banana export industry, in particular with regard to the growing, harvest, storage and transport of fruits of Musa before they enter the Union territory. The Panel adopted a pest categorisation of non-EU Tephritidae in 2019 (EFSA PLH Panel, 2020), which concluded that of 4,765 species regarded as non-EU Tephritidae, 257 species satisfy the necessary criteria assessed by EFSA such that they can be considered as potential quarantine pests for the EU. The reader is referred to that document for information on the identity, biology, detection and identification, establishment, spread and impacts of non-EU Tephritidae. In general, information provided in the pest categorisation is not repeated here, but may appear for ease of reference. 1.2.1 Additional information Additional information was delivered to EFSA from research carried out at the Universidade dos Açores (Annex II to the Terms of references), which includes six individual documents: Power point presentation authored by Dr David João Horta Lopes titled: 'Bactrocera dorsalis (ex-invadens) Hendel (Diptera: Tephritidae) uma nova ameaça para as culturas fruticolas' 49 slides in pdf, dated as March 2019 in Portuguese. Power point presentation authored by Dr David João Horta Lopes titled: 'Bactrocera dorsalis (ex-invadens) Hendel (Diptera: Tephritidae) uma enorme ameaça para as culturas fruticolas'. Presented for Frui Fly Protec, 49 slides in pdf, November 2019 in Portuguese (Figure 1a,b). Book titled 'A mosca do Mediterraneo no grupo central do Arquipelago dos Açores' edited by Pimentel R, Lopes D, Cabrera R and Dantas L (100 pages in pdf). In Portuguese. Conference poster in pdf titled: 'The presence of Bactrocera dorsalis Hendel (Diptera: Tephritidae) in the Cape Verde Archipelago' authored by Horta Lopes DJ, Pimentel R, Cabrera Perez R, Balde A. One page in English. Abstract to the 'Third FAO–IAEA International Conference on Area-wide Management of Insect' 2016 titled 'The presence of Bactrocera dorsalis Hendel (Diptera: Tephritidae) in the Verde Archipelago' authored by Horta Lopes D, Pimentel R, Cabrera Perez R, Balde A. One page PDF in English. PDF titled damage_on_bananas_Bactrocera_dorsalis, which includes six slides of the power point presentation with pictures. Authors are not mentioned on this document or the date. Captions below the pictures are in English. Figure 1 shows three of the images of B. dorsalis oviposition marks on banana taken in Cabo Verde and provided to the European Commission. Figure 1c is an image from the poster (iv. in list above) and labelled in the poster as 'Detail of the postures of Bactrocera dorsalis, in green and ripe banana'. Figure 1Open in figure viewerPowerPoint Damage of Bactrocera dorsalis on bananas in Santiago Island, Cabo Verde, courtesy of Raimundo Cabrera Perez from the University of La Laguna, Canary Islands, Spain 2 Data and methodologies 2.1 Data The Web of Science, Google Scholar, Scopus, PubMed bibliographic databases were accessed during a literature search (see Section 2.2). Relevant papers were reviewed, and further references and information were obtained from experts, as well as from citations within the references and grey literature. For this opinion, the following additional data were searched: Eurostat (https://ec.europa.eu/eurostat/data/database). Data on the EU import of banana (CN 0803 9010) and plantains (CN 0803 1010). These data were obtained in June 2020 EUROSTAT (Statistical Office of the European Communities) for the period Jan 2012–Dec 2019. Statista (https://www.statista.com/). Data platform on market analysis, trade, industry and consumer data. FAOSTAT (http://www.fao.org/faostat/en/#data). Database of food and agriculture data for over 245 countries/territories and regional groupings. Europhyt (https://ec.europa.eu/food/plant/plant_health_biosecurity/europhyt_en). Database for pest-specific notifications on interceptions and outbreaks. CABI (https://www.cabi.org/). Crop protection compendium for information on crop pest. Acquisition of Musa datasheets. EPPO Global Database (https://gd.eppo.int/). Pest-specific information produced or collected by EPPO. The database is constantly being updated by the EPPO Secretariat. ProMusa (http://www.promusa.org/) a network of people promoting scientific discussions on bananas with the International Society for Horticultural Science (ISHS); aims to share the latest research developments and encourage collaborations. Search term "Tephritidae" retuned zero hits. MusaLit (http://www.musalit.org/about.php) a bibliographic database containing 17,915 references on bananas. A PDF is freely available for 51% of the references. EFSA Tephritidae database (EFSA PLH Panel, 2020). Between May 2018 and November 2019 EFSA, in collaboration with the University of Thessaly Tasking grant holder (GP/EFSA/ALPHA/2017/02 Lot3 GA1), compiled information on non-EU Tephritidae into a database. The information supported the Pest categorisation of non-EU Tephritidae and is published as Appendices A–J (EFSA PLH Panel, 2020, Supporting information). The appendices list more than 5,000 species of Tephritidae. For many of the species detailed information such as nomenclature; host plants: cultivated or wild and distribution was retrieved. 2.2 Methodologies 2.2.1 Literature search on harvesting Recognising that timing of harvest was likely to be a critical feature in this opinion, a literature search specifically regarding the harvest of Musa was conducted at the beginning of this study (June 2020) using the Web of Science bibliographic search engine. Search terms and combinations of search terms are shown with the number of resulting hits in Table 1 regarding banana harvesting and also in Appendices A–C (English, French, Spanish, key words, respectively). Table 1. Literature search regarding harvest date/ripeness Search Search terms/combination Hits in Web of Science 1 Banana 58,212 2 Musa 35,723 3 Plantain 8,099 4 1 or 2 or 3 65,520 5 Harvest 680,302 6 Pick 140,933 7 5 or 6 811,132 8 4 and 7 10,103 9 Fruit 1,175,923 10 Ripe* 163,261 11 9 and 10 73,869 12 8 and 11 1,074 13 Restrict to papers published since 1990 710 The titles of 710 papers were downloaded into Endnote and reviewed. Titles of relevance were selected, and PDFs obtained for 225 papers which were further examined for relevant information. 2.2.2 Literature search on oviposition A detailed literature search was conducted in Web of Science bibliographic database to check available information regarding banana infestation by Tephritidae fruit flies, banana ripening stage and viability of egg/larval stages. The 'advanced search' mode was applied to narrow the search to specific criteria. Specifically, the field tag 'TS (topic) = term' was used which finds records of publications containing the searched terms in any Topic field. Keywords/terms used included "banana" (also searched by the terms "Musa" and "plantain"), "Tephritidae" (also searched by the term "fruit flies"), "Bactrocera", "infestation", "fruit ripeness", "oviposition", "pre-harvest" and "passenger baggage" or "passenger luggage" The same terms were also searched in other languages (French, Spanish). All possible combinations of the aforementioned terms with a logical explanation were also searched (Appendices A–C). Some additional references were retrieved in Portuguese language. 3 The banana and plantain industry This section has eight main subsections. The first (3.1) provides context for this opinion and describes world production of bananas and plantains with reference to detailed appendices showing national production area and exports. Subsequent subsections provide information on the growth and development of Musa plants (3.2); information on the range of cultivated Musa varieties (3.3) and invertebrate pests and pest management (3.4). Later subsections describe industry practices with regard to the harvest, storage and transport of fruits of Musa before they enter the Union territory, as requested by the ToR (1.1.2). 3.1 A global perspective of banana and plantain production FAO data indicate that in 2018 bananas were grown in over 130 countries with a total harvested area in excess of 6.1 million ha (Appendix D). The area of banana production has grown substantially since 1993, when 3.6 million ha of banana was harvested. The increase in banana production has been driven by population growth in low- and middle-income countries with major banana producing countries such as Brazil, China, India and the Philippines also being major consumers. Between 2000 and 2015, the harvested area in India and China almost doubled and yields increased by 48 and 83%, respectively (FAO, 2020). Globally, between 2014 and 2018, the mean annual production of bananas was 115.7 million tonnes (Appendix E). Approximately 85% of world banana production is consumed in local or regional markets whilst around 15% of world production is exported; North America, Europe and Japan are the primary export markets (Ploetz and Evans, 2015). An increased awareness of the health benefits from eating bananas has driven banana consumption in Europe and North America and banana is the most consumed tropical fruit in the world (Hailu et al., 2013). The global harvested area of plantains and cooking bananas in 2018 was 5.6 million ha with four of the top five producing countries in Africa (Appendix D). The mean annual global production of plantain from 2014 to 2018 was 38.3 million tonnes, the vast majority being consumed in the countries of production. Less than 2.3% of world plantain production is exported (Appendix F). 3.2 Musa plant characteristics, growing needs and crop phenology Sections 3.2–3.8 describe Musa fruit production focussing on commercial cropping practices in areas that export to the EU. The focus is on banana production although many processes also apply to plantains (Figure 3). The Musa plant is a monocotyledonous evergreen perennial herb, growing 2.0–9.0 m tall. The 'trunk' or apparent stem, technically a pseudostem, consists of tightly packed, thickened and elongated leaf sheaths that develop from suckers that grow from the underground rhizome to develop into a pseudostem close to the parent plant (Robinson and Galán Saúco, 2010). The pseudostem supports 6–20 leaves; leaves can be ~ 2.7 m long and 0.7 m wide (Figure 2a,b). A banana terminology is available at the end of this opinion (p. 84). 3.2.1 Plant growth The optimum temperature for growth is 27°C; the maximum 38°C. In sites of major banana production, temperature does not fall below 15°C for long. Thus, banana production is concentrated in tropical or near tropical regions where temperatures range between 15°C and 38°C (Hailu et al., 2013). Rainfall is also important; bananas grow best in areas with an annual precipitation of ~ 2,000 mm (De Buck and Swennen, 2016). They can also grow in areas with a mea
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