Bananas could take over from potatoes

The CGIAR agricultural partnership has advised that crops from the banana family could replace potatoes in developing countries as temperatures rise.

According to an article on the BBC website, researchers have told the UN's committee on world food security that maize, rice and wheat, as well as the potato, will lose planted area as climate change takes hold.

Philip Thornton, an author of the report, told the BBC: "It's not necessarily a silver bullet, but there may be places where, as temperatures increase, bananas might be one option that small-holders could start to look at."

In particular, the report suggests bananas could replace potatoes at higher altitudes.