The rumor that bananas cause cancer caused farmers in Guangdong, Qiong and Banana to lose 700 million yuan.

Rumors stole 700 million from Guangdong, Qiong and banana farmers.

China Daily News Global Online News: Banana Fusarium wilt (also known as Panama disease) is a common banana disease. After banana trees are infected, it will wither, not bear fruit, and then die, which is not the first time in Guangzhou. A few days ago, a media in Guangzhou published an article entitled "Banana Cancer in Guangzhou is on the verge of extinction", which reported the serious situation that bananas planted in Guangzhou were infected with Panama disease, and said in a follow-up report that this "banana cancer" would bring "disaster" to banana cultivation in Guangzhou and even the whole country.

Unexpectedly, this news about the common diseases of banana trees was misinformed through various channels, and finally turned into such a horrible rumor as "eating bananas causes cancer"-the result of news, rumors and rumors is that bananas are unsalable, and banana farmers can only watch bananas rot on trees. According to incomplete statistics of relevant government departments, in the 43 days after a media news was published on March 13th, banana farmers in Guangdong and Hainan lost at least 700 million yuan due to rumors.

On the evening of April 24th, it was 9: 10, and 42-year-old banana farmer Zhang Yu Fang was still selling bananas on her bicycle in the streets of Gaozhou city. Zhang Yufang told reporters that her family planted two acres of bananas, and she never worried about selling them, but recently she couldn’t sell them at a good price, so she had to go to the streets to sell them herself.

Pan Dafu, deputy director of the Fruit Bureau of Gaozhou City, told the reporter that on March 13th, a media in Guangzhou published a report entitled "Banana Cancer in Guangzhou is on the verge of extinction", which was about the news that banana trees were infected, but somehow it was misrepresented as "eating bananas causes cancer", and the rumor spread rapidly, causing banana producing areas such as Guangdong and Hainan to lose at least 700 million yuan in a month, while Zhang Yu Fang only lost tens of thousands.

March 13

Media reports "banana cancer" cause trouble

In the article "Banana Cancer in Guangzhou is Endangered", which was published in the newspaper on March 13th, the reporter wrote: "It is learned from Guangzhou Science and Technology Association that more than 3,333 hectares of 8,667 hectares of banana forest in Guangzhou have been infected with Panama disease, and the infected area is expanding at a rate of 20% every year." The article also quoted Liu Shaoqin, director of the Biotechnology Research Office of Guangzhou Institute of Agricultural Sciences, as saying, "The most terrible thing is that there is no effective treatment for this disease in the world at present, so we can only watch the infected bananas die, and the uninfected bananas will be infected sooner or later, and the more than 5,000 hectares of banana trees that survived in Guangzhou will not be preserved, and they will die in a few years."

Happily, the article mentioned that experts are studying antiviral varieties. "Experts from Guangzhou Academy of Agricultural Sciences have cultivated’ Nongke No.1′, and the incidence of Panama disease is only 5%-7%, which can effectively resist the virus."

On March 14th, the media published a follow-up report "The disease was found in all major producing areas in China", clarifying: "Bananas infected with the disease will completely die before bearing fruit, so there will be no bananas with virus. Moreover, Panama disease will not cause any harm to human health. " However, the follow-up report once again quoted an agricultural expert in Guangdong as analyzing the impact of Panama disease: "Not only the local bananas in Guangzhou may disappear, but also bananas in Guangdong and even China are facing extinction."

Perhaps the words "banana cancer" and "extinction" are too eye-catching, and for a time, the media all over the country reprinted these two articles in succession.

March 20

The test results "add fuel to the fire"

"The media may not be comprehensive enough when reporting, citing inappropriate words, and as a result, rumors gradually spread." This is Li Peng, deputy stationmaster of the Plant Protection Station of Hainan Provincial Department of Agriculture.

On March 18th, Xinhua News Agency reported from Nanchang that some media in Jiangxi reported that bananas in Guangzhou were infected with "banana cancer". Many people misunderstood that eating bananas was prone to cancer, which made a large number of bananas unsalable in the market. This is the earliest report that reporters can find on the Internet that "eating bananas causes cancer". At this time, it was only five days before the report of "Banana Cancer" in Guangzhou came out.

On March 20th, a coincidence inspection by Guangzhou Food Safety Information Network and China Food Network was exposed, which inadvertently added fuel to the argument that bananas cause cancer. The contents of the exposure of the above two tissues are: 12 kinds of commonly eaten fruits, including bananas, have carcinogen residues.

Li Longji, president of tropical fruit association in Chengmai county, Hainan province, thinks that there is nothing wrong with these two reports, whether they are "banana cancer" or "poisonous" fruits, but in fact they are misunderstood by consumers as "poisonous" bananas.

From this day on, the biggest banana price reduction storm in Hainan Province appeared. And then the victims were banana farmers in western Guangdong Province.

April 25th

Gaozhou banana farmers lost at least 100 million yuan.

On April 25, when the reporter came to interview the main banana producing area in western Guangdong, although the "banana cancer" storm had passed for more than 40 days, the banana forest that should have been busy was still deserted.

Banana is the main agricultural pillar industry in Gaozhou, where nearly 400,000 mu of bananas are planted, accounting for nearly a quarter of the province’s total, with an annual output value of about 600 million yuan. "I can’t think of bananas that can cure cancer, but they are so hurt by rumors!" Deng Qinxin, director of the Fruit Bureau of Gaozhou City, said helplessly that the 180,000 banana farmers in Gaozhou City lost at least 100 million yuan in this storm, which brought heavy losses to this county-level city that relies on agriculture for a living.

"Now the purchase price has returned to about 1.6 yuan/kg, which is less than half of the same period, and can only make banana farmers pay for it." Director Deng looked at the deserted banana purchase point on the roadside and said. "Since March 28 this year, the price of the boss who came here to buy bananas has suddenly dropped by 30 cents a catty. Before the banana farmers could react, they dropped by nearly a catty and two hairs the next day!" Zhang Mingzhou, president of Minghe Banana Cooperative in changpo town, Gaozhou, told the reporter, "This storm came too hard. In less than a week, the local banana price dropped to the lowest price in ten years: 0.6 yuan/kg."

Bananas are not only being reduced in price, but also the number of bosses who come to purchase them is decreasing. Many local banana farmers have to sell mature bananas cheaply. "In those days, it was normal for buyers to lose 20,000 to 30,000 yuan a car, because they often sent them to the north but could not sell them!"

The same situation is also staged in the main banana producing areas such as Maoming and Zhanjiang. The reporter learned that Xuwen and Hainan in Zhanjiang, which are just across the sea from Hainan, have the same experience.

Banana farmers in Hainan lose 17 million yuan every day.

In contrast, the banana farmers in Gaozhou may still be lucky. "Hainan has the biggest loss, and the direct economic loss in one month is 500 million yuan!" Zhang Xiyan, secretary general of Hainan Banana Association, told reporters. According to media reports, when the "banana cancer" storm arrived, it was the peak season for Hainan bananas to be listed, and the local weather was hot. "Many bananas rotted in the ground when no one bought them!"

On April 25th, Chen Zhaoyi, a large banana grower in Hainan, recalled the hard time at the beginning of the "storm": "The price of bananas was originally 2.7 yuan/kg, and from that day on (that is, the day when the news of carcinogen residues was exposed), it dropped to less than 0.6 yuan/kg in less than five days, and this is still the best price, which was almost sent to wholesalers!"

"My 800 acres of bananas in Hainan lost 1 million in less than a week!" Chen Zhaoyi said sadly that at that time, like many banana farmers, he watched the ripe bananas rot on the trees.

"When the price of bananas began to fall on March 21, most banana farmers thought it was a normal market fluctuation with the peak of listing and the price colliding with each other." Zhang Guodong, deputy head of Ledong County, the largest banana producing county in Hainan Province, recalled, "A few days later, everyone found something was wrong and began to notice the online report on’ banana cancer’, so they quickly reported it to the agricultural department." However, by the end of March, the price of bananas in Hainan Province was still falling to 0.24-0.30 yuan/kg, which was less than a quarter of the cost price.

During that time, Meng Xuru, director of the South Subtropical Crops Development Office of Hainan Provincial Department of Agriculture, learned the price of bananas every day. He said that the most serious thing is that from March 21 to March 31, Hainan banana farmers lost at least 17 million yuan every day, and many banana farmers were facing bankruptcy.

"About one third of Hainan is a banana farmer from Guangdong." Deng Qinxin, director of the Fruit Bureau of Gaozhou City, told reporters that more than a decade ago, many experienced banana farmers in western Guangdong successively went to Hainan to rent fields to grow bananas in order to seek greater development. "These are big banana growers, and the fields contracted by each person range from tens of acres to hundreds or even thousands of acres." According to Director Deng’s rough estimate, there are hundreds of banana farmers in Gaozhou alone who have "banana fields" in Hainan.

Chen Zhaoyi used to be a banana farmer in Gaozhou. Ten years ago, he began to grow bananas in Hainan. Now he has more than 800 acres of banana fields in Hainan. He lost 1 million yuan in this rumor storm. (Source: New Express reporter Wang Huaping Intern Tang Dubin)