Instruct: Given a question, retrieve passages that can help answer the question.
Query: Where are the most bananas produced?
In 2016, world production of bananas and plantains was 148 million tonnes, led by India and China with a combined total (only for bananas) of 28% of global production (table). Other major producers were the Philippines, Ecuador, Indonesia, and Brazil, together accounting for 20% of the world total of bananas and plantains (table).
In global commerce in 2009, by far the most important cultivars belonged to the triploid AAA group of "Musa acuminata", commonly referred to as Cavendish group bananas. They accounted for the majority of banana exports, despite only coming into existence in 1836. The cultivars Dwarf Cavendish and Grand Nain (Chiquita Banana) gained popularity in the 1950s after the previous mass-produced cultivar, Gros Michel (also an AAA group cultivar), became commercially unviable due to Panama disease, caused by the fungus "Fusarium oxysporum" which attacks the roots of the banana plant. Cavendish cultivars are resistant to the Panama disease, but in 2013 there were fears that the black sigatoka fungus would in turn make Cavendish bananas unviable.
Banana production in Honduras plays an important role in the economy of Honduras. In 1992, the revenue generated from banana sales amounted to US$287 million and along with the coffee industry accounted for some 50% of exports. Honduras produced 861,000 tons of bananas in 1999. The two corporations, Chiquita Brands International and the Dole Food Company are responsible for most Honduran banana production and exports.
Brazil produces and consumes Cavendish, apple and fruit bananas and the main producer in Brazil is in the southeastern state of São Paulo with 16.4% of the Brazilian market, according to the Brazilian Institute of Geography and Statistics (IBGE). Other notable areas where bananas in Brazil are cultivated include Prata in North-East Brazil; Belo Horizonte, Vitoria, Rio de Janeiro and Florianopolis in the southern and south-eastern regions. As of 2004, 6.6 million tons of bananas were produced, with a turnover of a little in excess US$ 1 billion.
Banana ketchup, sometimes referred to as banana sauce, is a sweet ketchup prepared using mashed banana, sugar, vinegar and spices. It is a common condiment in the Philippines, where it is as common as tomato ketchup is in the United States. Banana ketchup is mass-produced by some companies and marketed under various brands, such as Jufran.
Nicknamed as the "Banana Capital of Western Visayas," it produces not only the most harvest in Western Visayas but also the sweetest banana in the region. The town also boasts of producing corns, mangoes, root crops, sweet potatoes, legumes, bamboos, coconuts, as well as high yielding crops such as carrots, cauliflower, broccoli and strawberries thus the nickname "Strawberry Capital of Iloilo" as they produce substantial amount of strawberries in their strawberry farms.
Banana production has long been associated with the exploitation of impoverished workers in third-world countries. Banana flour production is naturally and closely connected with these concerns, as some consumers worry about where the bananas going into their flour are sourced. However, many major banana producers have recently agreed to fair trade business practices, which have been shown to increase worker welfare.
In 1941, the first bananas in Iceland were produced. They have been produced since that time, about 100 clusters a year each about 5–20 kg, but are not currently sold. In the wake of World War II, the combination of inexpensive geothermal power (which had recently become available) and high prices for imported fruit led to the construction of a number of greenhouses where bananas were produced commercially from 1945 to as late as 1958 or 1959. In 1960, the government removed import duties on fruit. Domestically grown bananas were no longer able to compete with imported ones and soon disappeared from the market. Icelandic banana production was much slower due to low levels of sunlight; Icelandic bananas took two years to mature, while it only takes a few months near the equator.
Banana production in Brazil accounts for approximately 10% of the entire world banana production, making Brazil a major banana-producing country in the world. Production has steadily increased over the years, rising from 5.4 million tonnes in 1997 to almost 7 million tonnes in 2007. In 2000, Brazil was fourth, behind India, Uganda and Ecuador, in banana production. By 2006, Brazil became the second largest banana-producer, behind only India, followed by China, Ecuador and the Philippines. Most of the bananas produced are consumed domestically. Gross exports has increased from 12.5 thousand tonnes in 1995 to more than 220 thousand tonnes in 2002 and 2003, mostly to neighbours Argentina and Uruguay, but these figures are still far behind industry leaders such as Ecuador, Costa Rica, the Philippines and Colombia which export more than a million tonnes of bananas annually.
Types generally represent nouns, such as a person, place or thing, or something nominalized, and a class represents an implementation of these. For example, a Banana type might represent the properties and functionality of bananas in general, while the ABCBanana and XYZBanana classes would represent ways of producing bananas (say, banana suppliers or data structures and functions to represent and draw bananas in a video game). The ABCBanana class could then produce particular bananas: instances of the ABCBanana class would be objects of type Banana. Often only a single implementation of a type is given, in which case the class name is often identical with the type name.
Colombian bananas (excluding plantains) are another export success story of Colombia's agriculture. Despite the violence that has long affected the producing regions, banana exports, which amounted to about US$525 million in 2006, are the third-largest legal agricultural export of the country, behind coffee and flowers. In 2005 Colombia was the tenth-largest producer, with 2.5 percent of the world's banana output, and the third-largest exporter, with 8 percent of the world's exports after Ecuador and Costa Rica. Output for export, mainly of the Cavendish Valery variety, is highly productive compared to international standards. The Urabá region in Antioquia and the northeast of Magdalena Department are the main areas producing bananas for export. Chiquita Brands International, Dole Food Company, and Del Monte Fresh Produce are among the most important banana-marketing companies in Colombia.
The main destination of Colombia's banana exports is the EU, and the second is the United States. Given the importance of the EU's banana market for Colombia and for Latin America, the outcome of the continuing disputes at the World Trade Organization (WTO) with regard to quotas and tariffs is a major issue to this sector. In November 2007, the WTO ruled against the dramatically increased duties imposed by the EU on its imports of Colombian bananas in January 2006.
Quevedo is one of the most important agricultural centers of Ecuador and is the geographical point where all major roads (including the Pan-American highway) in the region intersect. The area surrounding Quevedo mainly produce bananas, corn, rice, and soybeans. The alluvial soils in the region generate excellent harvests year-round. Many banana producers complement their banana plantations with fields that produce corn, soy and rice in the wet season. In the city, this produce is often industrialized into super-market ready products, such as instant-meals, pre-packaged products, noodles and other traditionally Asian foods. In recent years, Quevedo agro-industrial complex has added value to its output by developing a strong presence in the organic product's niche both locally and overseas.
Banana plants may grow with varying degrees of success in diverse climatic conditions, but commercial banana plantations are primarily found in equatorial regions, in banana exporting countries. The four leading banana export countries worldwide are Ecuador, Costa Rica, Philippines, and Colombia. Ecuador provides more than 33% of global banana exports. In 2004, banana producing countries totaled 130. Production, as well as exports and imports of bananas, are nonetheless concentrated in a few equatorial countries. 75% of total banana production in 2004 was generated in 10 counties. India, Ecuador, Brazil and China produced half of total bananas. Latin American and Caribbean countries led banana production up to the 1980s, and Asian nations took the lead in banana production during the 1990s. African production levels have remained mostly unchanged.
Since the early 2000s, attempts have been made to expand banana wine production to other countries where the crop is prevalent. The Philippines government has sought to expand a local banana wine industry, while India has produced both award-winning banana wines and research into expanding production.
Banana flour is generally produced with green bananas that are peeled, chopped, dried, and then ground. This process can be completed traditionally by hand, where the bananas are sun dried, dried in an oven, or a residential food dryer, and then either ground in a mortar and pestle or with a mechanical grinder. The green banana process requires 8–10 kg of raw green bananas to produce 1 kg of banana flour. In recent years, large scale commercial production has begun in Africa and South America using the same basic methodology.
Thottiyam is essentially an agricultural area; its main crops are paddy, plantains and petals. Large quantities of plantains and petals are sent to other States, including exports to Middle East. Thottiyam is one largest producer of Banana Fruit in Tamilnadu. Banana is one of the fruit with short life span of few days. The Banana Farmers in this region faced frequent issue of price drop and wastage due to short life span to over come this issue the farmers of Thottiyam region formed a farmers self help group known as Thottiam Banana Producer Group to produce value added products from Banana under the brand name of Madhur Fruits and producing Solar dried banana, Banana Chocolates, Banana Cookies and Banana Powders from fresh bananas. This products were marketed under brand name of Madhur Fruits and available throughout India and outside of India.
Musa balbisiana is a wild-type species of banana native to eastern South Asia, northern Southeast Asia, and southern China. It is one of the ancestors of modern cultivated bananas, along with "Musa acuminata". It was first scientifically described in 1820 by the Italian botanist Luigi Aloysius Colla. It grows lush leaves in clumps with a more upright habit than most cultivated bananas. Flowers grow in inflorescences coloured red to maroon. The fruit are between blue and green. They are considered inedible because of the seeds they contain. It may be assumed that wild bananas were cooked and eaten or agriculturalists would not have developed the cultivated banana. 
Seeded "Musa balbisiana" fruit are called "butuhan" ('with seeds') in the Philippines, and "kluai tani" (กล้วยตานี) in Thailand. Natural parthenocarpic clones occur through polyploidy and produce edible bananas, examples of which are wild saba bananas.
Bananas were the leading export item, and in 1985 accounted for 23 percent (US$78 million) of total exports. In that year, the Chiriquí Land Company, a subsidiary of United Brands (formerly United Fruit Company), produced 70 percent of all bananas, followed by private Panamanian producers (25 percent) and the state-owned Corporación Bananera del Atlántico (5 percent). The volume of bananas produced in Panama peaked in 1978 and slowly declined in the 1980s. Observers doubted that United Brands would expand its production in Panama because bananas could be produced more cheaply in Costa Rica and Ecuador.
One of the show's most frequently used running gags is the Banana Phone, where Papi imitates a ringing telephone and picks up the banana out of the plastic fruit bowl to (pretend to) speak to someone on the other end. To further the gag a cord is attached to the banana.
Dated to 6,900 – 6,400 years ago, additional archaeobotanical evidence has been found showing the cultivation of bananas and sugar cane. Many banana phytoliths have been found in the cultivation plots of Kuk Swamp. Since bananas do not produce phytoliths in the same quantity and frequency as grass and other plants, researchers have concluded that the abundance of banana phytoliths found in a managed grassed landscape between 6950 and 6550 years ago suggests deliberate planting. The bananas grown at Kuk Swamp were Eumusa bananas, which developed as the most significant and largest group of banana domesticates. This makes Kuk Swamp one of the earliest sites in the world for the development of agriculture.
From 1948 to 1951 and then from 1968 to 1970, the municipality of El Castillo was a major producer of bananas. The bananas were transported to Puerto Limón in Costa Rica, where they were sold by U.S. companies. Cultivation later declined as a result of black sigatoka (a disease caused by "Mycosphaerella fijiensis", a fungus of the Ascomycota phylum). The main economic activity today continues to be agriculture, most notably corn and bananas.
Banana bunchy top disease is the most serious virus disease of banana worldwide. Diseased plants rarely produce fruit and when they do, the fruit is stunted and twisted. However, in the rare scenario that a diseased plant does produce fruit that reaches maturity, it is edible. The banana bunchy top disease has had a huge impact on the banana industry in Hawaii and Australia and among other areas of the world. The disease was first seen on the Hawaiian island of Oahu in 1989 and by 2002, only 13 years later, it was a major disease on four of the Hawaiian islands (Hawaii, Oahu, Kauai and Maui). The movement of BBTD was mostly facilitated by human movement of diseased plant material and banana aphids from island to island. In the 1920s it almost completely destroyed the banana growing industry in Australia.
The Philippines is the world's third largest producer of pineapples, producing more than 2.4 million of tonnes in 2015. The Philippines was in the top three banana producing countries in 2010, including India and China. Davao and Mindanao contribute heavily to the total national banana crop. Mangoes are the third most important fruit crop of the country based on export volume and value next to bananas and pineapples.
In regions such as North America and Europe, "Musa" fruits offered for sale can be divided into "bananas" and "plantains", based on their intended use as food. Thus the banana producer and distributor Chiquita produces publicity material for the American market which says that "a plantain is not a banana". The stated differences are that plantains are more starchy and less sweet; they are eaten cooked rather than raw; they have thicker skin, which may be green, yellow or black; and they can be used at any stage of ripeness. Linnaeus made the same distinction between plantains and bananas when first naming two "species" of "Musa". Members of the "plantain subgroup" of banana cultivars, most important as food in West Africa and Latin America, correspond to the Chiquita description, having long pointed fruit. They are described by Ploetz et al. as "true" plantains, distinct from other cooking bananas. The cooking bananas of East Africa belong to a different group, the East African Highland bananas, so would not qualify as "true" plantains on this definition.
Hawaii is by far the largest banana producer in the United States, followed by Florida. Banana plantation in Hawaii has followed a descending trend, from 13,181 mmt in 2000 to 8,090 mmt in 2010. Hawaii produces mainly the conventional Cavendish assortment and the Hawaiian apple banana, which are sold in the local markets due to high employment and land expenses. The chief US banana exporter is Florida, which produces mostly Thai and cooking bananas (Bluggoe type). In addition, US banana producers are looking for opportunities in the organic and specialty segments of the banana market in Florida, Texas, California, Mississippi, Alabama, South Carolina, and Georgia.[2] Banana cultivation in Florida has been about 500 acres, valued at roughly 2 million US $.