The Knowledge to Decide

As one of the top five staple foods in the world, bananas might soon become extinct due to an advancing fungal disease known as the Sigatoka complex. Agronomists fear that this disease could wipe out the world’s banana supply in the next 5-10 years. The Sigatoka complex consists of three fungal diseases – black Sigatoka, yellow Sigatoka and eumusae leaf spot. They are lethal as they cripple the immune system and match the metabolism of the host plant. This means that the fungi can replicate enzymes to penetrate the plant’s cell walls, which enable it to feed on other carbohydrates and sugars. The disease is forcing farmers need to step up and make 50 fungicide applications (annually) to their banana crops. Up to 35% of banana production expenditure is for fungicide applications. However, many farmers cannot afford this and end up either growing inferior quality bananas and switching to other crops. How will the possible extinction of bananas impact global food supply?

Leon Perera, Chief Executive Officer of Spire Research and Consulting, was invited to share his views on sugar consumption trends on Channel NewsAsia – Money Mind. He observed that sugar consumption in Singapore will decline in the long term, akin to what has been seen in North America and Europe, thanks to rising health literacy and government health campaigns. Natural sweetener producers would need to work hard to find their niche in terms of taste, pricing and a fact-based health message. Sugar is now into its 4th year of global surplus production, primarily thanks to Brazil, Thailand and India. This has exerted downward pressure on prices. Sugar consumption is foreseen to grow below the growth rate of the global population in the next 5 to 10 years. High intensity natural sweetener is now a niche market that faces good growth prospects. However, there are regulatory hurdles facing the industry. What’s more, there is a lot to be done in educating and convincing consumers t