- Plantwise says you can manage banana xanthomonas wilt; so no need for GMOs?
- DG of Bioversity says “adopt transgenic crops carefully and on a case to case basis”.
- “You can contribute to the revision of quinoa descriptors”. Is there one for level of threat to indigenous people?
- Poor US farmers. “Despite last year’s drought, net farm income in US … will be highest since 1973.” h/t Tom.
- “WIPO Instrument on genetic resources and traditional knowledge should reflect developments in international law and policy relating to indigenous peoples.” Course it should.
- “[N]otable gains in dietary diversity and increased child health in hundreds of farm communities of Northern Malawi.” Any causal link?
- Roger Leakey talks agroforestry.
- Rwanda saves seeds.
How to manage xanthosomas wilt: Get rid of ensete? While a staple food in Ethiopia this is grown all over the place as an ornamental. Chop it down and the source of disease is gone. There was an notable plant just on the `watershed of the Americas’ outside San Jose, Costa Rica. A long way from its home in Africa and a menace to local banana production.
How exactly would that prevent spread from infected plants?
Jeremy: Like John Snow removing the pump handle during the 1854 cholera epidemic in London.
It was unfortunate for bananas introduced long ago to Africa (where there were no bananas) to encounter a related genus – Ensete – that carried a disease that then damaged bananas. Get rid of ensete – not important outside Ethiopia – and you can start eliminating the xanthomonas wilt by however that’s done – clean planting material, zonation, internal quarantine (as in Australia) or however. No ensete – no re-infection.
Er, cholera is still a problem, globally, despite Snow’s efforts.
And BXW will continue to be a problem without a reservoir host.