Bananaman88

Here's a link to a good article on bananas and biotechnology for those of you who may be interested.

http://www.unctad.org/infocomm/angla...technology.doc

Here's the link to the whole site, which has a lot of good info on many crops, including bananas.

Banana

Chironex

Thanks for posting this article. Indeed it is thought-provoking and creates an awareness of some of the issues facing the industry as a whole. Personally, I would like to see a greater emphasis on promoting the smaller farmer and diversity in bananas available to everyone. But I tend to believe that the closely guarded secret technology will ultimately be the "ace up the sleeve" of the Banana Carttels. The smaller producers of the banana world will see land values driven down as their plantations become increasingly infected, then gobbled up at fire sale prices by the 'Big Bananas' who can plant new, disease-resistant strains. Since chemicals that had been used to reduce infection won't be as widely used, the price will become prohibitive to the little guys.
There seems to be a definite plan here. I truly hope that I am incorrect. What does everyone else think about it? I have said this in another post, but it bears repeating - we have a collective voice and we can promote the sharing of technology with the little guys who are not part of the Banana Cartel. Could we put our heads together to make a public statement at the very least? Something that some of the news wires could pick up?

I apologize for detracting from the original intent of bananaman's post here. It just got me thinking and I had to make known my thoughts on this matter.

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Scot

Bananaman88

I apologize for detracting from the original intent of bananaman's post here. It just got me thinking and I had to make known my thoughts on this matter.[/quote]

Scot,

Hey, you didn't detract from the original intent whatsoever, so no worries there. My intent in posting was to provoke some stimulating talk on the subject, in whatever direction. In my opinion, that's one of the reasons this website exists.

I have to agree that the "little guy" may be left out in the cold on this. Alot of what they discussed in the article is very technical and tough for someone without a plant breeding background pull off, considering the limited means of some of the smaller home-producers in South and Central America. One can only hope that the smaller producers in South and Central America (and elsewhere) will benefit from the availability of disease-free stock at some point. Hopefully, we here in the States and abroad will also benefit from a wider availibility of types of fruit in our local supermarkets. My wife is involved in plant research and the bottom line for me is that biotechnology is already very prevalent and will become moreso, especially in Musa, so it seems. In my opinion, that could be a very good thing.

I'm not sure if Jarred would really want to make this site quite so political as to "take a stand" or issue a statement like you have mentioned. This is his baby and I don't pretend to speak for him in any way but it would be cool if we could get a little media attention on this. We are The International Banana Society afterall! I like the official-sounding name of that. Might carry some weight.

Chironex

Viva the little guys of the banana world. I would love to see them form cooperatives to level the playing field and bring their goods to market. Much as we lament the big box stores, we are supporting them - the same could be said for banana producers, we are supporting the banana cartels. It's a classic name brand versus generic, survival of the fittest mindset that promotes monopolies.

I am all for biotechnology and using our God-given talents to stay a step ahead of mother nature's desire to return all things to their basic elements. It's homeostasis at work. Most people that object really do so from a lack of understanding and a fear of change - the unknown. Since they do not understand, they opt to oppose. The viscous nature of their resistance can also be characterized as homeostasis - keep things as they are.

"But that's just my opinion, I could be wrong." (Dennis Miller)

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Scot

lorax

Well, the formation of small-grower cooperitvas for exportation is something I'm working on down here (not just with nannas), with an eye to export to the more specialized stores. Most of the small banana growers here in Ecuador are completely organic - they can't afford to be anything but - so there's definitely a market niche for them. They're also the only ones still growing the Gros Michels - it's probably due to them that the strain hasn't died out (in fact, what they're growing is Panama-resistant so this may give them a wee advantage over the cartels in coming years)

I'm all for seeing what biotech can do for newer, better, nanners, but I think for now that I'll stick to the traditional, pup in the ground, style. Then again, I live in Bananaland, so it's not as hard for me.

Chironex

Just found this today. Have a look:



and this:

Banana Link

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Scot

Bananaman88

Scot,

Thanks for posting. The one from Los Alamos is really powerful. It's terrible that these people are treated this way. Everyone deserves basic safety and rights and they ought to be paid a decent wage as well. It would be awesome to get this on CNN somehow.