Building Better Bananas (2012)
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Building Better Bananas (2012)
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Re: Building Better Bananas (2012)
#2> Making banana plants less susceptible to diseases is a secondary goal for us. Our primary goal is to help Dale develop new types of banana that are more nutritious – specifically, much richer in Vitamin A and Iron that the body can absorb.
I don’t like some details.
The banana needs a little more energy to produce more Vitamin A, so the plant will yield fewer bananas and these bananas will be more expensive. You will get more Vitamin A but fewer carbohydrates. I’m not sure that this is a good deal in the very poor parts of the word.
The problem with the Iron content is easier to see. The banana has to take the Iron from the soil, unless it’s a very rich Iron zone, so you need to use a fertilizer to replace the Iron. This also makes the bananas more expensive.
Re: Building Better Bananas (2012)
#3I was under the impression that hunger is primarily a distribution issue, not an issue of production. Gates implicitly states that the vitamin A deficit is mainly a result of a one-sided diet. But isn't the one-sided diet itself a result of a lack of alternatives? So, if alternatives cannot currently be distributed to meet demand, how would a new breed of bananas solve that? Don't they also have to get distributed into those regions first?
Re: Building Better Bananas (2012)
#4> Making banana plants less susceptible to diseases is a secondary goal for us. Our primary goal is to help Dale develop new types of banana that are more nutritious – specifically, much richer in Vitamin A and Iron that the body can absorb. I don’t like some details. The banana needs a little more energy to produce more Vitamin A, so the plant will yield fewer bananas and these bananas will be more expensive. You wi…
> Vitamin A deficiency in developing countries causes hundreds of thousands of children to go blind each year. It also reduces the body’s ability to fight infection, which raises the fatality rates in poor countries from infectious diseases like measles. Iron deficiency is so serious and widespread that in Uganda, for example, more than 40 percent of young children have stunted growth and 73 percent are anemic.
I take your point that calories aren't trivial for a developing world staple but it's difficult to see it counter-balancing that situation.
Re: Building Better Bananas (2012)
#5I was under the impression that hunger is primarily a distribution issue, not an issue of production. Gates implicitly states that the vitamin A deficit is mainly a result of a one-sided diet. But isn't the one-sided diet itself a result of a lack of alternatives? So, if alternatives cannot currently be distributed to meet demand, how would a new breed of bananas solve that? Don't they also have to get distributed in…
The article makes the point that the breeds need to exist first. NARO is looking into the second half of that equation.
Re: Building Better Bananas (2012)
#6> Making banana plants less susceptible to diseases is a secondary goal for us. Our primary goal is to help Dale develop new types of banana that are more nutritious – specifically, much richer in Vitamin A and Iron that the body can absorb. I don’t like some details. The banana needs a little more energy to produce more Vitamin A, so the plant will yield fewer bananas and these bananas will be more expensive. You wi…
The banana needs a little more energy to produce more Vitamin A, so the plant will yield fewer bananas and these bananas will be more expensive.
While it is true the banana would use more energy, there is no evidence for lower crop yields.
The banana has to take the Iron from the soil, unless it’s a very rich Iron zone, so you need to use a fertilizer to replace the Iron. This also makes the bananas more expensive.
The gene they are using is from the soybean plant. Since there is a significant amount of iron in soil to begin with, I doubt fertilizer is required to supplement the soil with iron.
Re: Building Better Bananas (2012)
#7The most important thing to recognize here is that bananas used as crops do not exhibit genetic drift (they are sterile). We clone new bananas from existing plants. Many of the bananas today, including the Cavendish, are thus very vulnerable to diseases like the fungus mentioned.
Genetic modification is one of the few ways we can keep the bananas we like while adjusting them for more recent diseases and pests. The only other way I know is to go back and find the ancestral species, and try to breed a fertile banana cousin.
Re: Building Better Bananas (2012)
#8I was under the impression that hunger is primarily a distribution issue, not an issue of production. Gates implicitly states that the vitamin A deficit is mainly a result of a one-sided diet. But isn't the one-sided diet itself a result of a lack of alternatives? So, if alternatives cannot currently be distributed to meet demand, how would a new breed of bananas solve that? Don't they also have to get distributed in…
I think "distribution" in this context is just a nice way of saying that poor people can't afford better food from elsewhere, they have to rely on what is cheap and can be bought from the local market.
If they're already buying bananas as a staple food, then I presume that the fix would be for the government to go to the local growers and either give the better banana plants for free, or at a discounted rate, or some other incentive. If that's what the growers grow, then that is what will eventually be available at the market.
If they're growing their own food then that's a bit harder, but you could probably come up with some sort of incentive scheme to get people to switch. You could try charging the same amount as normal, but tell people that the new ones prevent blindness and anemia in children.
Re: Building Better Bananas (2012)
#9The most important thing to recognize here is that bananas used as crops do not exhibit genetic drift (they are sterile). We clone new bananas from existing plants. Many of the bananas today, including the Cavendish, are thus very vulnerable to diseases like the fungus mentioned. Genetic modification is one of the few ways we can keep the bananas we like while adjusting them for more recent diseases and pests. The on…
It also seems like it would negate one of the biggest potential hazards of GMO applications - the accidental spread of damaging traits to native species through cross-pollination.
IIRC the seeding ability was intentionally bred out of cultivated bananas because the seeds themselves were large, inedible, and comprised a significant portion of the fruit itself.
Re: Building Better Bananas (2012)
#10> Making banana plants less susceptible to diseases is a secondary goal for us. Our primary goal is to help Dale develop new types of banana that are more nutritious – specifically, much richer in Vitamin A and Iron that the body can absorb. I don’t like some details. The banana needs a little more energy to produce more Vitamin A, so the plant will yield fewer bananas and these bananas will be more expensive. You wi…
The vitamin A prevents blindness. It has to be taking away an awful lot of calories to not end up a win.