JoeReal

Wish to share this with you:

" Current methods to control Black Sigatoka include fungicide applications, the annual cost of which is estimated at 30% of a typical grower’s total production cost and adding an estimated 15-20% to the final retail price of bananas. In addition to this substantial cost, the high frequency of applications has shown significant adverse environmental and health effects.

“Although initial, the field trial results from our joint work with Evogene are very encouraging and have the potential to combat one of the world’s most devastating crop diseases,” added Mr. Dinar. "

Complete Story:

Evogene and Rahan Announce Successful Field Trial Results for Black Sigatoka Resistance in Bananas - Yahoo! Finance

shannondicorse

Hi,

The problems of sigatoka affect several farming groups. The large export oriented monocultures - the ones that, in my opinion, aided the banana plagues that now visit us can look at engineering resistant clones. Their volumes and profits allow this added cost- though their operations are still not sustainable in the long run.

Peasant farmers really cannot. In this case, "vertical" resistance strategies won't work in the medium or long run. Smallholders cannot afford to "retool" their crop with the frequency that "vertical" methods demand.The pathogens will ALWAYS outrun the breeders.

"Horizontal" resistance strategies are the best.

This can be done at TWO levels: that of the microflora; and the bananas themselves.

I've outlined elsewhere what has to be done in the latter case; we have to have considerable gene exchange in the banana crops.This means radically rethinking practised banana agroecology; and returning to schemes fashioned during earlier eras. Aided, of course, by all we've learnt since then.

A few people outside of traditional banana research are trying to demonstrate practicable methods of doing this.

But we can much more quickly tweak the microbiota in the soil and in/on the banana plant. If you look at a Sigatoka invasion, in the first phase you see real destruction. Then after about four years you very often see the emergence of a startling degree of resistance in some banana agro-ecosystems. There, the rapidly evolving microbiota "correct" the earlier imbalance towards a Sigatoka-dominant microbiota.

This, in my experience, happens very readily in complex agro-ecologies; and not anywhere as easily in large plantation monocultures.

Yet smallholder farmers are consistently given inappropriate extension advice. This ought to stop.


shannon


shannon.di.corse@gmail.com