In the Philippines, banana is considered as the most economically and socially important fruit crop. Banana belongs to the family Musaceae under the order Scitaninae and it consists of two genera: Ensete and Musa. There are three species that are indigenous to the Philippine island: Musa balbasiana Colla, Musa acuminata Colla ( saging maching), and Musa textiles Nee (abaca). Banana produces fruit without undergoing fertilization or sexual union. It is considered as a perennial herb but it bears fruit only once. Banana can be used for desert and for cooking. Bananas also have different morphological habits. Some have erect leaves (e.g. Inarbal, Lakatan), intermediate (Saba, Latundan) and drooping leaves (Matavia, Manang). Bananas can beseedless or can occasional seeds.
Among the ten Philipppine exports, banana is considered second to coconut in terms of dollar earnings. In Southeast Asia, only the Philipppines made it to the top five major suppliers of banana in 2002 together with India, Ecuador, Brazil and China ( Molina et. al, 2002). In 2003, there are 409.8 hectares devoted to banana, which produced 5,369.0 metric tons with a value of30.7 billion pesos (BAS, 2003). Banana is grown throughout the country but the large farms are mostly located in Minadanao. Southern Minadanao tops the banana chips crckers and catsup. Lakatan,latundan and saba are the cultivars planted for the local market while Cavendish type cultivars like giant Cavendish, dwarf Cavendish, robusta, umalag, grande naine and Ecuadorian are being cultivated for export market'(Molina et. al, 2002).
