BBTV+Information

__Banana plants in each plantation:__
__﻿__ Number of banana plants in our plantation (plantation D): Plantation D= 356 hectares 1 hectare= 100 x 100 metres (10,000 square metres)

Bananas in 10 x 10 m = In a block that is 10m x 10m there are 7 banana plants in each row and there is enough room for 3 rows. Therefore in a 100m block there would be 70 banana plants in each row and enough room for 33 rows. However each row has an extra metre left (after 7 plants have been planted 1.5 meters apart), leaving room for a total of 7 more banana plants per row. 77 __x 33___ __2541___banana plants per hectare

Our banana plantation is 356 hectares, therefore: 2541 __x 356___ __904,596 banana plants in plantation D__

25 hectares, therefore have 25 x 2541= __63,525 banana plants__
 * Port plantation**

90 hectares, therefore have 90 x 2541= __228,690 banana plants__
 * Plantation A**

124 hectares, therefore have 124 x 2541= __315,084 banana plants__
 * Plantation B**

12 hectares, therefore have 12 x 2541= __30,492 banana plants__
 * Plantation C**

486 hectares, therefore have 486 x 2541=__1 ,234,926 banana plants__ __﻿__ __**Total**__ number of banana plants on the island: __2,777,313__ __﻿__ __﻿__
 * Plantation E**

__How long will it take for the aphids to infest the plantations?__
The following diagram shows how quickly a colony of banana aphids will infest the banana plants: __﻿__

__This can also be shown in a table:__
From this table we can see that it will take about **83 days** for Plantation D to be infested with the Banana Bunchy Top Virus! And about **87 days** for all the island's banana plantations to be infested!
 * Equation || Days || Plants ||
 * 1x1 || 0 || 1 ||
 * 2x1x1 || 10 || 2 ||
 * 3x2x1x1 || 20 || 6 ||
 * 4x3x2x1x1 || 30 || 24 ||
 * 5x4x3x2x1x1 || 40 || 120 ||
 * 6x || 50 || 720 ||
 * 7x || 60 || 5,040 ||
 * 8x || 70 || 40,320 ||
 * 9x || 80 || 362,880 ||
 * 10x || 90 || 3,628,800 ||

__Effect on Economy:__
If one bunch of bananas weighs about 40kg and can be exported for about $994 per tonne, the economy will lose about **$144,281,088 per 8-12 months** if all the plantations were infected with the Banana Bunchy Top Virus.

__Controlling the virus:__
According to the Cooperative Extension Service (1997) the best way to get rid of the BBTV is to kill the disease carrying aphids and remove and destroy the infected plants. To control ahpids on banana plants, farmers can use the pesticide Prentox Diazinon AG500 which is an approved chemical in Hawaii, but can only be used on plants when they are not fruiting. This product kills the aphids on contact but has no residual effect on aphids. To kill the infected banana plants, farmers can use Roundup Ultra.

__Quarantine:__
To avoid any further problems with the BBTV, Team Discovery Channel recommends that the government prohibits any importation of banana planting materials, or other plants that may carry the virus/aphids, without a permit and a one-year quarantine period. This would involve setting up an efficient and affective quarantine system at the port settlement.

__References:__
College of Tropical Argiculture and Human Resources: University of Hawaii at Manoa (1997) //Cooperative Extension Service//. Retrieved from: []