Although it has been discredited, the name Musa paradisiaca is still being used to designate cultivated bananas. The practice perpetuates a misconception that obscures the real evolutionary relationship between bananas and their wild ancestors.

The World Banana Forum was launched last December at the headquarters of the United Nation’s Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) in Rome to provide a permanent space for stakeholders to discuss the challenges facing the banana industry.

The second joint ISHS-ProMusa symposium ‘Global perspectives on Asian challenges’ was held in Guangzhou, China, 14-18 September 2009.

Adapted from the keynote addresses made by David Jones and Richard Markham at the ISHS/ProMusa Symposium on ‘Recent Advances in Banana Crop Protection for Sustainable Production and Improved Livelihoods’.