BANANA KNOWLEDGE

This entry draws heavily on Sci-Tech Library Newsletter (edition of 1/31/03), a great email newsletter provided by Stephanie Bianchi [sbianchi@nsf.gov]. She in turn seems to have drawn from the Scout Report. http://scout.wisc.edu/report/sr/current/

(The Internet Scout Project is a great resource for educators searching for learning materials to incorporate into online learning activities, and for organizations that want to leverage the Internet. It includes: The Scout Report which identifies good resources on the web as identified and screened by a team of hundreds; The Scout Report Archives which are a searchable and browseable collection of years worth of critical annotations of carefully selected Internet sites, mailing lists, and other online resources; The IMesh Toolkit project seeking to assemble a coherent set of tools and standards for the implementation and interconnecting of subject gateway sites; The Scout Portal Toolkit project designed to provide a near-turnkey software package allowing an organization with a minimum of technical expertise and resources to set up a web portal focused on their particular subject area; LearningLanguages.Net providing a guide to selected online resources designed to help children and young adults learn a foreign language; and The Scout Toolkit which is a collection of online materials compiled by the Internet Scout Project to help one "surf smarter". http://scout.wisc.edu/)

In much of the developing world, especially Latin America and Africa, bananas and plantains are crucial foodstuffs; they are the fourth most important food crop after rice, wheat, and corn. In recent years, production levels of both crops have suffered as the rapidly spreading fungus "Black Sigatoka" has taken its toll, often reducing yields by up to 50 percent. Moreover, chemical fungicides used on the crops have harmed the health of plantation workers and the environment. If you think about it, knowledge is critical to the banana industry. Below are some relevant links.

The Banana's Future May be Uncertain Banana's Days May Be Numbered
A recent Reuters release.
http://www.reuters.com/newsArticle.jhtml?type=oddlyEnoughNews&storyID=2058060

Traditional Vegetative Propagation
Describes the propagation process of the banana, which for the cultivated banana is complicated by the fact that it has no seeds and is sterile.
http://heg-school.aw.com/bc/companion/cmr2e/activity/VR/VR17.htm

Genetic Diversity and Food Security
A brief written by Geoffrey Hawtin for the UNESCO Courier on the importance of genetic diversity and food security.
http://www.unesco.org/courier/2000_05/uk/doss23.htm

International Network for the Improvement of Banana and Plantain
INIBAP is the key network for banana and plantain research, and its website contains a wealth of material about the importance of bananas and plantains, particularly to the developing world.
http://www.inibap.org/

Global Consortium Announces Plans to Sequence Banana Genome
A 2001 press release from the Future Harvest group announcing that a global consortium would begin work on sequencing the banana genome, in large part to discover the diversity of bananas that grow and reproduce in the wild. http://www.futureharvest.org/news/banana_release.shtml

Banana: Food and Wealth [.pdf]
A fact sheet published by the INIBAP highlighting the importance of bananas to the nutritional well being of persons in developing areas.
http://www.inibap.org/publications/inibap-factsheets_eng/food.pdf