Going wild over bananas - The Star 8 Nov 11

Going wild over bananas 
The Star Online ( 8 Nov 2011)

THE younger generation just isn’t interested in taxonomy nowadays, laments Markku Hakkinen, 65, a scientific researcher from the University of Helsinki, Finland.

He said that a lot of work was involved in taxonomy studies as one would need to trek into the jungle and identify new species of plants.

He said that among the ways to prevent the soil-borne fungus, Fusarium oxysporum cubense, from wiping out banana plantations was to make hybrids of bananas more resilient to the fungus.

“But people don’t recognise the wild species (for breeding purposes),” he said.

Fascinated by the plant: Hakkinen speaking on the various banana species.

He was delivering a public talk entitled ‘Journey into the world of bananas’ at the Alpha Utara Gallery on China Street in Penang on Saturday.

Hakkinen, a well-known specialist in the Musa species (banana) with over 30 years of experience, is recognised as one of the world’s experts on the identification of wild bananas.

He gave a slide show presentation featuring the different species of bananas as well as their origins to an audience of some 30 people comprising academics, representatives of non-governmental organisations and the general public.

He is currently working on a documentary about bananas called ‘Mondo Banana’ with freelance videographer Ryan White.

For details on Hakkinen’s work, visit http://www.indiegogo.com/CAPTAIN-BANANA.