Visitors to the Banana Museum in Sainte-Marie, Martinique, were recently asked to weigh in on an improved hybrid produced by the French Agricultural Research Centre for Development (CIRAD). Called Fhlorban 925, the small banana tastes like a Cavendish, but unlike the latter it is resistant to leaf spot diseases and nematodes, and as such requires less pesticides. Some 900 kg of the new cultivar are currently grown on 2 sites in Martinique and 4 in Guadeloupe, where scientists from the Institut Technique Tropical are studying its agronomic performance. It's also being tested in cold chambers in Rungis, outside Paris. If the various evaluations are conclusive, the objective is to commercialize it by 2015.
