Agroaldea
For a project of the research centre La Mayora in Malaga which seeks to control whitefly.
The Bill Foundation & Melinda Gates, of Microsoft co-founder, Bill Gates, set in the The Algarrobo Mayora Experimental Station as Research Center.
And has done so to take part with their investigations in the search for solutions to the serious damage it is causing in sub-Saharan Africa cassava whitefly.
The virus that transmits this insect, whose scientific name is ' Bemisia tabaci', they are causing significant damage in the production of cassava, a vital product and a staple food for millions of people in the countries of black Africa, to the point of becoming famine. Cassava, After the corn and rice, is considered the main nutrient source in the world.
The Institute of Mediterranean and Subtropical horticulture (IHSM) The Mayora, that you make up the University of Málaga and the Higher Council of scientific research (CSIC), leads more than 15 years of research on whiteflies and viruses and diseases that cause important crops in Spain as tomato, pepper, melon and Jewish, among others, because of the damage it does and its economic impact.
The Foundation Bill Gates, that it has among its objectives to help the most disadvantaged, improving human health and that all people have opportunities to succeed in life and studies, It has granted to La Mayora aid of 300.000 EUR to take part, along with other centres and researchers from 10 other countries around the world, in a project that investigates the causes of the epidemics of the whitefly of cassava in Africa, and the search for sustainable solutions.
In particular, Most focus their study on the biological insulation of the various species of ' Bemisia tabaci', and to assess the impact of the virus and the plants in the whitefly.
"It's knowing the enemy. Until not long ago it was thought that the white fly was a unique species. Today we know that There are up to 30 different species. We are going to study European and African populations and check that they do not cross», Jesus Navas explained, scientific researcher La Mayora and project coordinator.
The team in charge of the work also will involve the doctors Elvira Fiallo and Francisco Villanueva, the technical remedies Tovar and Tanzanian Happiness Mollel student.
According to Navas, one of the objectives of the Bill Gates Foundation with this project is increase the scientific capacity of the African countries, What is embodied in the formation of two African as master's students and nine as doctors.
La Mayora research is part of a broader project which has a support of 13.852.395 EUR (15,75 millions of dollars) granted to the Instituto de Recursos Naturales (NRI) the University of Greenwich, in the United Kingdom, by Bill Foundation & Melinda Gates.
Along with the United Kingdom NRI and the Mikocheni Institute of agrarian resources (MARI) of Tanzania, He lead the project, They also involved researchers from Australia, China, Colombia, Spain, United States, Israel, Malawi and Uganda.
For Navas, the results of the project may be crucial to improve the diet of the population in sub-Saharan Africa. «The whitefly is responsible for the transmission of a huge number of viruses attacking the main vegetable crops in the world. These viruses include the causal agents of two pandemic diseases that have in recent years destroyed crops of cassava in sub-Saharan Africa: cassava mosaic and cassava brown streak», According to Navas.
The problem has worsened from the years 90, in when you registered, because they are unknown, an unprecedented increase of whitefly in the regions where it is grown.
The diseases that cause cause the loss of harvest, that translates into recurring famines in this area of Africa countries. «The small farmer if you run out of cassava, runs out of food», According to Navas, for whom the white fly control and reduction of the spread of the virus transmitting will result in improving the productivity and incomes of small farmers, to reduce the risks of food dependency and famine.