Banana production in Brazil

[5] Brazil produces and consumes Cavendish, apple and fruit bananas and the main producer in Brazil is in the southeastern state of São Paulo with 16.4% of the Brazilian market, according to the Brazilian Institute of Geography and Statistics (IBGE).

Notably the programme has done much since 2002 to curtail the effects of the black sigatoka which previously caused widespread disaster to banana plantations in the Amazon.

The Brazilian Banana Genome program is also supported by the National Council for Scientific and Technological Development (CNPq) internationally with support from experts in countries such as France and Belgium, UK, Japan and the Czech Republic.

[1] Apart from molecular genomics research, Embrapa also has a successful banana breeding program, generating disease-resistant varieties, such as the Pacovan Ken.

[7] Pacovan Ken, a banana breed resistant to yellow and black sigatoka and to Panama disease launched in November 2001 as a national crop plant in Brazil, is named after Embrapa scientist Kenneth Shepherd.