10+-+Banana+Crisis

‍‍What is Banana Bunchy Top Virus (BBTV)?
BBTV is a serious disease of bananas; the virus is spread from plant to plant by aphids. Banana plants that show symptoms rarely bare fruits, their leaves that are normally expanded remains bunched at the top of the pseudostem (THAR, 1997). ‍‍ ﻿ The nearest plantation to our settlement is Plantation C, Plantation C has a total of 1.2 hectares of bananas. Each banana is planted 3 meters apart and spread evenly every 1.5 meters along each row.To work out how many bananas on Plantation C, we need to work out how many bananas can we grow in a hectare.


 * Plantation C**

100m x 100m = 10,000m2 3/100= 33.33 (33) There is 33 bananas apart. 1.5/100 = 66.66 (67) There is 67 bananas in each row. 33x66= 2211, this gives us how many bananas in a hectare. To work out how many bananas in .2 hectare, we divided 2211 by 5.2211/5 = 442In Plantation C there is a total of 2211+442 = 2653 bananas. It would take approximately between 105-110 days for Plantation C to be infested.

To work out how long it would take BBTV to infest the settlement we had to figure out how many hectares of bananas there were all together. 9+12.4+1.2+35.6+48.6= 106.8 There is a total of 106.8 hectares all together, to find out how much bananas there are all together we did, 106.8x2211= 236,135. Therefore on GemIsland there is a total of 236,135 bananas. It would take approximately 170-155 days to wipe out all bananas on GemIsland causing a huge catastrophe.


 * [[image:http://gemisland.wikispaces.com/site/embedthumbnail/placeholder?w=359&h=50 width="359" height="50"]][[image:http://gemisland.wikispaces.com/site/embedthumbnail/placeholder?w=359&h=50 width="359" height="50"]][[image:http://gemisland.wikispaces.com/site/embedthumbnail/placeholder?w=200&h=244 width="200" height="244"]] ||


 * Equation || [[image:0511-0705-2512-0439_Bananas_Growing_On_a_Banana_Tree_clipart_image.jpg width="63" height="88"]] ||
 * 1x1 || 1 0 Days ||
 * 1x1x2 || 2 20 Days ||
 * 1x1x2x3 || 6 40 Days ||
 * 1x1x2x3x4 || 24 60 Days ||
 * 1x1x2x3x4x5 || 120 80 Days ||
 * 1x1x2x3x4x5x6 || 720 120 Days ||
 * 1x1x2x3x4x5x6x7 || 5,040 140 Days ||
 * 1x1x2x3x4x5x6x7x8 || 40,320 160 Days ||
 * 1x1x2x3x4x5x6x7x8x9 || 362,880 180 Days ||

Within our plantation there is 2613 banana's per hectare. Plantation C is a total of 1.2 hectares of banana. We came to a total of 2613 by finding out how many square meters in a hectare. In 1 hectare there is 10000 square meter. So in order to find out how many bananas per hectare we have to work out how many bananas can fit in the column and rows. There is 100x100 square meter in a hectare, so we worked it out by dividing 3 by 100 to get 33.3 to find out how many bananas apart, to find out how rows there are we divided 1.5 by 100 to get 66.6. To work out how many bananas in an acre we times 33x66 = 2178 this gives us the answer for one acre. In order to find the .2 hectare we worked it out by looking at how many 2 goes into 10 it equates to 5, so because we have a total land of 1.2 we divided 1 hectare into 5 to get 435. The total number of banana in plantation C is 2613, we came to this by adding up 2178 and 435 to get 2613. [|Banana Tree Picture]

The banana bunchy top virus has no known cure and therefore all banana plants are vulnerable to the virus. If a tree is found to have to BBTV it should be chopped down and buried under the soil to stop the spread of the virus. Another way to stop the spread of BBTV is to make sure that clean and diseased free planting material is used at all times on the Island. All entering tools and materials should be quarantined and test for the virus before it is allowed to enter the Island. This should also happen between settlements, as one settlement may infect another. The disease is carried by Aphids so another strategy for protecting the banana plants is to control the Aphids population. This can be done with sprays that are not harmful to the plants or the environment. Mesh netting may also be a way to protect our banana trees. If we had netting around all the plantations that the Aphids could not penetrate it could be possible to stop the virus. In a sense it would be like putting the banana trees in quarantine as the netting would be dug under the ground and over the top of the trees so all areas are protected from the Aphids.
 * __What action needs to be taken/ how can we prevent the spread?__**

[|Aphids picture]

We need to perhaps call an urgent "Island Meeting', so that all relevant members of each settlement, including authority, agricultural scientists and farmers, are warned and know what we are dealing with. This would ensure everyone was on the same page in regards to controlling the spread of BBTV and limiting the ecomonical and other effects. Agricultural scientists on the island would need to be consulted, and perhaps form a board to come up with effective ways of dealing with the infestation of these crops. Furthermore, all banana crop farmers would need to be informed in each settlement of the presence of BBTV and given adequate support in the way of supplies and information on how to combat the problem, and this needs to be done as soon as possible. We would need to stress the possible devastation of this virus and how it is vital that we all work together to stop it as soon as we can! Banana farming involves many people on the island and all community members would need to be kept up to date on the situation, which may greatly effect their lifestyles. They would need to be told of the threat but ensured by the island authorities and president/ministers that all is being done to restore the island's health. Other places and countries who import banana supplies from our island would also need to be informed. They would need to be made aware of our stopping of exporting these goods while we get the BBTV under control. We would also need to inform them as they may have exported bananas carrying the virus, therefore possibly infecting their countries plants with the virus also. We need to warn them of the possibility of that contamination so as they can also act quickly to combat the issue.
 * __Who needs to be warned & What do we tell them?__**

By the mathematical workings below the results show that this banana plantation will have the smallest amount of impact to the economy because it is the smallest area affect on the island. Although it won't have a huge impact on the overall economy of the island it will have an impact on our settlement, because our settlement is small every dollar we make will help us in further development of our settlement.
 * __What will be the likely impact on the economy?[[image:Rotten%20Banana.jpg width="241" height="161" align="right"]]__**

1 bunch of bananas weigh an average of 40kg Export price $944/tonne 1 tonne = 1000kg 1000kg divided by 40kg = 25 bunches of bananas So this means that there is 25 bunches per tonne We have 2,613 banana plants (C8) 2613 plants divided by 25 bunches = 104.52 tonnes 104.52 tonnes x $944 = $103,892.88 This means that we will lose $103,893 profit. [|Banana picture]