Bananas, Banana, Musa acuminata, Musa balbisiana

Banana is a tall tropical grass, that was first grown  (according to some important but unconfirmed research) about 7-10 000 years ago in Papua New Guinea. Bananas also serve like vegetables ( flower and heart), food containers and plates (leaves) , as well as a source of fiber both  for textile and paper industries. Japan cultivated bananas for this purpose since 13th century.  Europeans first seen bananas cultivated in India  in Alexander the Great's expedition of 327 BC. India is still  the largest producer  with  26 217 000 tons produced in 2008.
Today world produces 95 595 965  tonnes of bananas (2009) leaving a potential consumer with  13.86 kg  (30.82 lbs) of bananas to consume, or about 2 bananas per week.
 That's enough to last you 4.5 days, more if you are ready to eat  10 pounds of banana peels (yes they are edible, though I'm not sure what your palate might think about this idea). Just one medium-seized banana will supply your body with 22%  of your daily needs of Vitamin B6 , 17% of Vitamin C, 16% of Manganese, 12 % of Potassium and 8% of Magnesium, among many other things. Please remember to keep this fruit out of the refrigerator, temperatures below 12 degrees will destroy it.
Panama disease is supposed to devastate all commercial growers within 20 years  so  enjoy them while they last.
Worldwide, banana crop could feed  82.5 million people (at 2000 calories a day), or  entire populations of Germany and Bhutan combined.This crop has enough protein for about 50-52 million people.

4 843 595 hectares were used for banana production in 2009, a territory similar to Dominican Republic. That is about 3.12% of all permanent crop land in the world.

Bananas cost around $500-800 per ton.  Retail prices in USA hover around  $0.5-$.6 per pound. Organic bananas  cost about 15 -30  cents more, though I doubt there is much difference poison-wise.
World crop is about $50-60 billion worth.
Piesan Saging


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production by country

Algeria	Bananas	200		200	F		M
American Samoa	Bananas	790		790	F		M
Angola	Bananas	300000		300000	F		M
Antigua and Barbuda	Bananas	220		220			M
Argentina	Bananas	182000		182000	F	182000	F
Australia	Bananas	213193		207061		270393
Bahamas	Bananas	3750		3750		3750	F
Bahrain	Bananas	1000		1000	F		M
Bangladesh	Bananas	1004520		877123			M
Barbados	Bananas	720		720	F	720	F
Belize	Bananas	66000		68053		68070
Benin	Bananas	14000		14500	F		M
Bermuda	Bananas	330	F	363			M
Bhutan	Bananas	3974		3974	F		M
Bolivia (Plurinational State of)	Bananas	182490		182490	F		M
Brazil	Bananas	7098350		6998150		7193189
British Virgin Islands	Bananas	360	F	360	F		M
Brunei Darussalam	Bananas	800	F	800	F		M
Burundi	Bananas	1850000		1850000	F		M
Cambodia	Bananas	130000		130000	F		M
Cameroon	Bananas	820000		820000	F	820000	F
Cape Verde	Bananas	6800		6800	F		M
Cayman Islands	Bananas	210		210	F	210	F
Central African Republic	Bananas	120000		120000	F	120000	F
China	Bananas	8038385		8042702		8207702	F
Colombia	Bananas	1819874		1987603		2020393
Comoros	Bananas	70000	F	70000	F	70000	F
Congo	Bananas	87000		88000	F		M
Cook Islands	Bananas	60		60	F		M
Costa Rica	Bananas	2350000		2127000	F	2127000	F
Côte d'Ivoire	Bananas	360000	F	360000	F		M
Cuba	Bananas	385900		280800		245400
Cyprus	Bananas	7100		5650		5770
Democratic Republic of the Congo	Bananas	314920		315470			M
Dominica	Bananas	20000	F	20000	F		M
Dominican Republic	Bananas	495678		439569			M
Ecuador	Bananas	6002302		6701146		7637324
Egypt	Bananas	945429		1062453		1100000	F
El Salvador	Bananas	65000	F	65000	F		M
Equatorial Guinea	Bananas	20000		20000	F		M
Ethiopia	Bananas	250000	F	261059		194333	*
Fiji	Bananas	2852		8426		3409
French Guiana	Bananas	4500		4500	F		M
French Polynesia	Bananas	800	F	800	F		M
Gabon	Bananas	13000	F	13000	F	13000	F
Ghana	Bananas	57500	F	57500	F		M
Greece	Bananas	3586		3600	F	3600	F
Grenada	Bananas	1336		1336	F		M
Guadeloupe	Bananas	40181	*	40181	F		M
Guam	Bananas	350	F	350	F		M
Guatemala	Bananas	1569460		1569460	F		M
Guinea	Bananas	160000	F	162000	F		M
Guinea-Bissau	Bananas	5200	F	5200	F		M
Guyana	Bananas	5892		5892	F		M
Haiti	Bananas	295000		295000	F		M
Honduras	Bananas	690479		690503		690625
India	Bananas	23823000		26217000			M
Indonesia	Bananas	5454226		5741352		6273056
Iran (Islamic Republic of)	Bananas	101000		113366			M
Israel	Bananas	130814		85186		93510
Italy	Bananas	400	F	350	F	350	F
Jamaica	Bananas	125000	F	125000	F		M
Japan	Bananas	205	F	205	F		M
Jordan	Bananas	34910		41540		43834
Kenya	Bananas	593370	*	593370	F		M
Kiribati	Bananas	5800	F	5800	F		M
Kuwait	Bananas		M		M		M
Lao People's Democratic Republic	Bananas	48000	F	48000	F		M
Lebanon	Bananas	89700		89700	F		M
Liberia	Bananas	120000	F	120000	F		M
Libyan Arab Jamahiriya	Bananas		M		M		M
Madagascar	Bananas	325000	F	325000	F		M
Malawi	Bananas	390000	F	390000	F		M
Malaysia	Bananas	530000	F	600000	F	625000	F
Maldives	Bananas	8910	F	8210	*	4340	*
Mali	Bananas	136898		140000	F		M
Martinique	Bananas	300000	F	300000	F		M
Mauritius	Bananas	9026		10463		10920
Mexico	Bananas	1964545		2159280			M
Micronesia (Federated States of)	Bananas	2100	F	2100	F		M
Montserrat	Bananas	160	F	160	F		M
Morocco	Bananas	201802		214712		220000	F
Mozambique	Bananas	90000	F	90000	F		M
Nepal	Bananas	53257		76792		88849
New Caledonia	Bananas	1685		1256		1145
Nicaragua	Bananas	44391		36285			M
Niue	Bananas	80	F	80	F		M
Occupied Palestinian Territory	Bananas	6160		5120			M
Oman	Bananas	28892		28892	F		M
Pakistan	Bananas	157962		159378			M
Panama	Bananas	545162		357861			M
Papua New Guinea	Bananas	940000	F	940000	F		M
Paraguay	Bananas	46000	F	58321		58840
Philippines	Bananas	7484073		8687624		9013186
Portugal	Bananas	30000	F	30000	F		M
Puerto Rico	Bananas	53500	F	53500	F		M
Republic of Korea	Bananas		M		M		M
Réunion	Bananas	6000		10000	*		M
Rwanda	Bananas	50	F	50	F		M
Saint Lucia	Bananas	40000	F	43798			M
Saint Vincent and the Grenadines	Bananas	51000	F	51000	F		M
Samoa	Bananas	23000	F	23000	F		M
Sao Tome and Principe	Bananas	32000	F	32000	F		M
Senegal	Bananas	32000		40000		40500	F
Seychelles	Bananas	2000	F	2000	F		M
Singapore	Bananas		M		M		M
Solomon Islands	Bananas	330	F	330	F		M
Somalia	Bananas	38000	F	38000	F		M
South Africa	Bananas	345749		393141		373637
Spain	Bananas	358177		383700		384000	F
Sudan	Bananas	74000	F	74000	F		M
Suriname	Bananas	71084		88724			M
Swaziland	Bananas	5000	F	5000	F		M
Syrian Arab Republic	Bananas	800	F	800	F		M
Thailand	Bananas	1929284		1540476		1528082
Timor-Leste	Bananas	2000	F	2000	F		M
Togo	Bananas	19000	F	19500	F		M
Tokelau	Bananas	15		15	F		M
Tonga	Bananas	840		840	F		M
Trinidad and Tobago	Bananas	7000		7000	F		M
Turkey	Bananas	189107		201115		204517
Tuvalu	Bananas	280		280	F		M
Uganda	Bananas	615000		615000	F		M
United Arab Emirates	Bananas	200		200	F		M
United Republic of Tanzania	Bananas	3500000		3500000	F		M
United States of America	Bananas	11612		7893		6985
United States Virgin Islands	Bananas		M		M		M
Vanuatu	Bananas	14500		14500	F		M
Venezuela (Bolivarian Republic of)	Bananas	512187		383836			M
Viet Nam	Bananas	1355000		1355000	F		M
Wallis and Futuna Islands	Bananas	4300		4300	F		M
Yemen	Bananas	120370		128796		132418
Zambia	Bananas	700	F	700	F		M
Zimbabwe	Bananas	95000	F	95000	F		M
World + (Total)	Bananas	89413104	A	93390721	A	95595965	A

Wheat, Trigo, Triticum Spp

Wheat is one of the first domesticated grains and is known to be grown since 9000 BC.  Right now it is grown commercially in 124 countries. Even  countries with expensive land and labor like Malta ,Luxembourg or Switzerland find some room to grow some wheat.
Pretty much all   world's history , starting from the first Sumerian wheat exports, was going around  wheat, many wars were fought  and millions of people had died to secure tillable land and trade routes. Now  wheat is a part of many  national anthems, coat of arms, and flag colors.
Worldwide, 681 915 838  tons of wheat were produced in 2009 and only 650 881 002  tons in 2010 .  That is about 15 quadrillions of individual  wheat berries, provided by  about 500 trillions  of individual plants.
Biggest  wheat producer in the world is China with 115 180 303 tons in 2010, with a strong growth of 1%  or so since 2008. Unconfirmed rumors are that 2011's production fell by 500 000 tons and that  producing wheat in China costs $9 a bushel, so  they basically  produce it just to bankrupt  American, Canadian, Argentinian , Australian and Russian, Ukrainian  farmers. China also buys infinite amounts of agricultural land anywhere it can.

Biggest producer per capita is Australia, the crop would of 2010 would  be enough to give  more than 1028 kg , or over 40 bushels of wheat  to each Australian . That's enough to last  over 4 years and 11 months at 2000 calories a day.  Over 28.58% of all Australian arable land was used for wheat in 2010.
In the United States, biggest producer of wheat (  combined  winter wheat, durum wheat and spring wheat) is North Dakota ( 2011 ) , which bested Kansas by 5 million bushels in 2011.   Kansas used to be the wheat capital of  USA  up to 2010  with it's peak production at 500 million bushels in 1997.  In 2009, Kansas produced 369.6 million bushels ( about 5.5% of all acreage  had to be abandoned)  , in 2010, 360 million and in 2011,  only 273 million bushels of wheat.
On per capita basis, North Dakota is  producing  413.5 bushels of wheat  per year ( 2011 ) that is 24800 pounds , or  11.12  tons of wheat. A North Dakotan could have a pound of bread  per day for 101 years with just a crop of 2011, if they kept it to themselves.
Worldwide , 100.13 kilograms of wheat were available to a potential consumer. That's enough for  over 178.2 days at 2000 calories a day, and there is enough protein to supply  everyone with 257  days worth at 50 grams per day.  Basically there  are less than 10 ounces,  or 274 grams of whole grain  wheat  for every  day of the year, for every human on earth , which would make  up to 411 grams of bread .  However this number includes also a lower-quality wheat which is commonly  used as fodder.
Update for 2010 -- increased population and reduced production resulted in about 5.4 kg loss of available wheat, 94.7 kg  of wheat were ready  for a potential consumer.

14.32% of all arable land in the world was used for wheat production in 2009. This number decreased by about 2-2.5 % in 2010.

3 362 872 625 people could be fed year-round at 2000 calories a day with that crop of wheat. That's enough to feed all China, India, USA, Indonesia, Brazil and Philippines. There is enough protein for  over 5.2 billion people.

225 437 694 hectares were used to produce wheat in 2009, a territory bigger than Greenland and Serbia combined. Just take a look at that giant piece of land on the world atlas! That   (wheat acreage) is nothing less but 14.32% of all arable land in the world. Wheat is ruling over 1.5% of all  land on Earth.

If we could make a cube out of the 2009's wheat, it would be 961 meters, or over 3200 feet tall.

If you had to wait  for a train with 2009's wheat to pass  at 50 miles/ 80km per hour, you'd be waiting over 167 hours.
If you could line all wheat berries in  up one line, it would be  more than 17 times longer than the orbit of Neptune, the farthest  planet from Sun, and  the Light itself would need  almost 3 days  to travel from one end to another.

The crop of 2009 ( at current prices- 02/11) is about $ 260-270 billion worth.

Best crop ever was collected in 2008, it was 1.49 million tonnes more than  one of 2009.
Worst crop since 1961 was in 1961, 222 357 231 tonnes.

Best worldwide yield was in 2008 (3067.9 kg/ha), worst, since 1961--1088.8 kg/ha (1961)
Record yield belongs to Ireland , 9453.8 kg/ha  (2000)

Land usage since 1961 grew  by 10.4%. Seed usage since 1961 grew by  27%  (32m.t vs 25.2 mln t)

Sources: FAO.org, USDA.gov, CIA.gov, alibaba.com, many others. Koring  Пшеница
List of all articles on Iron Rye you can find here:
http://ironrye.blogspot.com/2011/10/list-of-all-articles-at-iron-rye.html

Production (tonnes)

year

country

item 2008 2009 2010 Afghanistan Wheat 2623000 5064000 4532000 Albania Wheat 335000 333100 294900 Algeria Wheat 1111030 2953120 3100000 * Angola Wheat 4400 F 5000 F 5000 Im Argentina Wheat 8508160 8851180 14914500 Armenia Wheat 236434 206505 183500 Australia Wheat 21420200 21656000 22138000 Austria Wheat 1689690 1523370 1517810 Azerbaijan Wheat 1645790 2096200 1272340 Bangladesh Wheat 844000 849046 901490 Belarus Wheat 2045240 1979000 1740450 Belgium Wheat 1850410 1909770 1849580 Bhutan Wheat 5828 4481 4500 Im Bolivia (Plurinational State of) Wheat 199990 239367 310700 Im Bosnia and Herzegovina Wheat 240533 255848 145412 Botswana Wheat 104   0 F Brazil Wheat 6027130 5055530 6036790 Bulgaria Wheat 4632210 3976850 3994900 Burundi Wheat 8094 8583 9034 Cameroon Wheat 674 Im 883 Im 900 F Canada Wheat 28611100 26847600 23166800 Chad Wheat 8100 10613 Im 8200 Im Chile Wheat 1237690 1145290 1523920 China Wheat 112456292 115115364 115180303 Colombia Wheat 39191 24349 15780 Croatia Wheat 858333 936076 681017 Cyprus Wheat 2472 14690 14843 Czech Republic Wheat 4631500 4358070 4161600 Democratic People's Republic of Korea Wheat 175000 * 169000 * 160000 * Democratic Republic of the Congo Wheat 8740 8790 8841 Denmark Wheat 5018700 5940400 5059900 Ecuador Wheat 8144 11314 7605 Egypt Wheat 7977050 8523000 7177400 Eritrea Wheat 5391 26142 27300 Im Estonia Wheat 342500 342520 324400 Ethiopia Wheat 2463060 3075640 * 3000000 * Finland Wheat 787500 887000 724400 France Wheat 39006400 38332200 38207000 Georgia Wheat 80300 53900 48400 Germany Wheat 25988600 25192400 24106700 Greece Wheat 1939300 1830000 1600000 * Guatemala Wheat 8571 Im 9000 P 11700 Im Honduras Wheat 1048 Im 1127 Im 1000 Im Hungary Wheat 5630830 4419160 3763680 India Wheat 78570200 80680000 80710000 Iran (Islamic Republic of) Wheat 7956650 13484500 15028800 Iraq Wheat 1255000 1700400 2748840 Ireland Wheat 993000 690000 669000 Israel Wheat 75734 132963 112324 Italy Wheat 8855440 6341000 6900000 * Japan Wheat 881200 674200 571300 Jordan Wheat 7835 12484 22125 Kazakhstan Wheat 12538200 17052000 9638400 Kenya Wheat 336688 219301 511994 Kuwait Wheat 260 350 Im 320 Im Kyrgyzstan Wheat 746200 1056660 813300 Latvia Wheat 989600 1036400 973000 Lebanon Wheat 143700 153000 F 138100 Im Lesotho Wheat 3720 7420 20119 Libya Wheat 104000 105000 F 106000 F Lithuania Wheat 1722500 2100200 1708200 Luxembourg Wheat 97760 90903 83474 Madagascar Wheat 10000 P 11861 Im 12500 Im Malawi Wheat 2386 2590 2700 Im Mali Wheat 13116 15132 23788 Malta Wheat 14000 F 14000 F 13100 Im Mauritania Wheat 4000 3414 2413 Mexico Wheat 4019400 4116160 3676710 Mongolia Wheat 209830 388122 345458 Montenegro Wheat 2856 3044 2465 Morocco Wheat 3769450 6371430 4876140 Mozambique Wheat 2550 F 2575 F 2600 F Myanmar Wheat 170000 179000 181900 Im Namibia Wheat 14581 12448 12500 F Nepal Wheat 1572070 1343860 1556540 Netherlands Wheat 1366160 1402040 1369550 New Caledonia Wheat 13 Im 8 Im 10 Im New Zealand Wheat 343350 403464 444891 Niger Wheat 8775 8600 F 8700 F Nigeria Wheat 53000 36813 Im 34200 Im Norway Wheat 453300 278000 293000 Occupied Palestinian Territory Wheat 31826 30000 F 27100 Im Oman Wheat 1070 2000 2000 Pakistan Wheat 20958800 24033000 23310800 Paraguay Wheat 799632 1066800 1401990 Peru Wheat 206936 226265 219454 Poland Wheat 9274920 9789590 9487800 Portugal Wheat 203300 110200 111700 Im Qatar Wheat 30 32 F 30 Im Republic of Korea Wheat 10359 18782 39116 Republic of Moldova Wheat 1286330 736660 744160 Romania Wheat 7180980 5202530 5811810 Russian Federation Wheat 63765100 61739800 41507600 Rwanda Wheat 67869 72430 77193 Saudi Arabia Wheat 1985560 1152450 1300000 * Serbia Wheat 2095400 2067560 1630400 Slovakia Wheat 1819480 1537910 1227800 Slovenia Wheat 160297 136904 153481 Somalia Wheat 1000 F 950 F 990 Im South Africa Wheat 2130000 1958000 1464970 Spain Wheat 6714300 4723900 5610700 Sudan Wheat 587000 641695 403000 Swaziland Wheat 363 Im 420 F 450 F Sweden Wheat 2202200 2284000 2184400 Switzerland Wheat 548097 549431 523562 Syrian Arab Republic Wheat 2139300 3701780 3083100 Tajikistan Wheat 659096 938435 857545 Thailand Wheat 1076 Im 1081 Im 1100 Im The former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia Wheat 291719 271117 243137 Tunisia Wheat 919000 1653600 822100 Turkey Wheat 17782000 20600000 19660000 Turkmenistan Wheat 2317070 Im 2957940 Im 3000000 F Uganda Wheat 19000 20000 21500 F Ukraine Wheat 25885400 20886400 16851300 United Arab Emirates Wheat 30 45 F 40 Im United Kingdom Wheat 17227000 14076000 14878000 United Republic of Tanzania Wheat 92400 95000 62130 United States of America Wheat 68016100 60365700 60102600 Uruguay Wheat 1356600 1844420 1300700 Uzbekistan Wheat 6146500 6637700 6730400 Venezuela (Bolivarian Republic of) Wheat 226 230 F 300 Im Yemen Wheat 170446 222129 265432 Zambia Wheat 113242 195456 172256 Zimbabwe Wheat 31000 40000 F 41800 Im World + (Total) Wheat 683218307 A 686959162 A 650881002 A