大米七 (Gros Michel) banana et al

Taiwan has been an exporter of bananas, especially to Japan, since 1902. The golden era, however, truly started in 1963 when Japan instituted a quota-free banana import system, the banana enterprise in  Taiwan reached its zenith in 1967 with more than 52,000 hectares of farmlands producing 653,800 tons of bananas. And of which, 394,966 tons were shipped to Japan directly, taking a 90% share of this market. Unfortunately, it was soon out-competed by bananas from the Philippines cultivated by multinational conglomerates from middle and south Americas. Within 10 years, Taiwan's banana business went into a free fall which was further exacerbated by scandals and mismanagement at the Taiwan Fresh Fruits Co-op, plus the untimely fungal blights that had also severely reduced the output. There have been no significant recoveries since, for example, in 2005, Taiwan's market share in Japan was down to a mere 3%. It remains a major fruit crop in Taiwan nonetheless.

Gros Michel, can still be found in, e.g., Jamaica

大米七 (Gros Michel) banana is no longer available in Taiwan, having succumbed to Panama wilt fungus disease* in the 1960s (*a scourge still spreading world-wide). Now we have 北蕉northern and its sub-strain fairy仙人蕉 bananas instead (both derived from the 華蕉 Cavendish strain):

Three "fingers" of 北蕉 exported to Japan

Unfortunately, the Black Sigatoka (or yellow leaf) Disease and another Panama fungus (Foc Tropical Race 4) are threatening the survival of this strain of banana as well. To avert a potential disaster, the Taiwan Banana Research Institute has developed the following new strains:

1. TaiJiao No 1 台蕉一號 (1992) - resistant to the yellow leaf disease (YLD)
2. TaiJiao No 2 台蕉二號 (aka Barbados dwarf Cavendish BF) (1995) - shorter hence lower wind damages
3. TaiJiao No 3 台蕉三號 (aka TC1-229) (2000) - mid- to short-strain, also resistant to YLD
4. BaoDao 寶島蕉 (aka 新北蕉) (2001) - high yield, resistant to YLD
5. TaiJiao No 5 台蕉五號 (from TaiJiao No 3, aka 玉山 and TC3 1035) (2007) - highly disease resistance

A "hand" of TaiJiao No 5

6. TaiJiao No 6 台蕉六號 (aka 玉豐 Cavendish BF) (2007) - high yield

TaiJiao No 6

Which one(s), or even some of those yet to be developed, will survive in the long run is still being worked on, by very capable researchers no less. Rest be assured, though, that we will always have bananas to enjoy, as there are more than 300 strains of bananas on this earth. Cavendish is merely one of them, just happens to be the most popular one at present time.

Factoids: (1) Banana 香蕉 is pronounced 芎蕉 in Taiwanese. 芎 is derived from 弓 as the "bow" in "bow and arrow". A banana shapes like a bow, hence the name 芎蕉. (2) A 香蕉芎 is a "hand of bananas" in English, and each banana is a "finger".  A "bunch" of bananas refers to, technically, the whole "six foot, seven foot, eight foot bunch" (Harry Belafonte - Day O).