1. The Cavendish banana (Musa spp.) accounts for approximately 47% of global banana production and is the variety most widely sold commercially. Cavendish plants are propagated clonally on a large scale for commercial cultivation.

In the 1990s, a strain of the fungal pathogen Fusarium, known as Tropical Race 4 (Foc TR4), was identified in Cavendish plantations in Southeast Asia. Foc TR4 infects the vascular tissue of banana plants, blocking water transport and causing plant death. The pathogen can persist in soil for decades.

Table 4 shows the percentage of plantation area affected by Foc TR4 in monoculture Cavendish regions and in mixed-variety growing regions, recorded at five-year intervals from 1995 to 2020.

Table 4

Describe the data shown in Table 4 for both regions.