substitute for 'Gros Michel' in the export trade. For a time these cultivars did prove resilient and grew well, and in some areas remain the clones on which the current export trade is based. Unfortunately, in several growing areas in the Eastern Hemisphere, these cultivars are falling to TR4. It was inevitable that this disease would spread to the Western Hemisphere, and indeed in 2019 it was detected in Colombia. This poses a significant threat to production, because there are currently no acceptable replacement cultivars. It is anticipated by experts that disease surveillance, integrated pest management, breeding of resistant cultivars, and genetic engineering will yield worthwhile results. This conclusion comes from an economic analysis which examined these as investments which governments and international organizations may or may not choose to invest in. Their opinion was that there would be positive yield from these investments, taken as either net present value or the internal rate of return. A variant cultivar called Formosana (GCTCV-218), a type of Taiwanese Cavendish, has been reported in the popular press as having some resistance to TR4, as well as by Molina et al 2009, although in 2015 Ploetz was of the opinion that it has been evaluated as having no resistance at all. 'GCTCV-119' is another Taiwanese Cavendish used commercially for its TR4 resistance. To make things worse, this variant of the pathogen also affects plantains, Musa acuminata × balbisiana, which are an important staple food in tropical regions of the world. The average American eats of the Cavendish banana each year, and the question is being asked as to whether this oft-consumed fruit is on course to extinction. Apart from the export trade, 85% of banana production is for local consumption and many of the cultivars used for this purpose are also susceptible to infection. Distribution Not all banana-producing countries have been affected by the outbreak of Panama disease. Tropical Race 4 (TR4) was first identified in Taiwan, and from there rapidly spread to Indonesia, China, Malaysia, Australia and the Philippines. The disease was then identified in Jordan in 2013. TR4 later spread to Vietnam and Laos, as well as to the Middle East being reported in Pakistan and Lebanon. In 2015, the disease then spread to Africa, being informally announced in Mozambique and Oman. In August 2019, TR4 arrived in Colombia, a country in Latin America, the region comprising the world's biggest banana exporters.