Bananas are the most popular fruit in Canada.
On average, Canadians eat 13.6 kilograms of the tropical import each year. Viewed from an airplane, the banana plantations on Costa Rica's Atlantic coast stretch like a lush green quilt, patterned with railway tracks, dirt roads and clusters of silver-grey tin roofs. More bothersome but less frequent are the burning clouds of Chlorotlalonil and Dithane spray, dropped from small airplanes over entire plantations on a biweekly basis to control the spread of the leaf fungus Black Sigatoka. But hope is growing, literally, for a better banana. The Mona Lisa is a banana resistant to Black Sigatoka, the latest disease to curse banana baron and landless worker alike.