https://writetoupbeat.substack.com/p/to-fight-climate-triggered-cacao
"“Instead of using rat poison, get a cat to check a rat infestation…that is
essentially what bio-control is,” says Dr Varanashi Krishna Moorthy, a
microbiologist. “It is close to nature’s own solution.”
Dr Varanashi’s analogy captures a central problem in modern agriculture -
related to pests and diseases in crops. Crop diseases are biotic stresses
caused by pathogens—bacteria, fungi and viruses—that thrive when ecological
balance breaks down. Chemical pesticides remain the most common response, but
they are systemic and disrupt the health and ecology of the soil.
Bio-control, by contrast, relies on living organisms to keep pathogens in check
and works within the ecosystem rather than overriding it.
We were speaking with Dr Varanashi and Dr Ashwini Krishna Moorthy, soil
macrobiologist — at Surya Kanti, one of the cottages in the 100-acre Varanashi
Farms in Adyanadka, a village on the foothills of the Western Ghats, about 50
kilometres south-east of Mangaluru, close to the Kerala border. Dr Varanashi
inherited the land from his maternal grandmother, Thirumaleeswari Amma, a
descendant of the Chakrakodi family.
In 1991, after attending a workshop on alternative farming systems, Dr
Varanashi began converting the estate into a regenerative farm. By then,
chemical farming at Varanashi Farms had already begun to show its limitations:
a flush of vegetative growth without corresponding yields, alongside rising
pest and disease pressure in arecanut, cacao, paddy and black pepper—the farm’s
main commercial crops and staples of the region.
The problem was particularly acute in cacao. In and around Adyanadka, cacao
crops are routinely attacked by two fungi—
Phytophthora parasitica and
Fusarium—which cause young fruits to blacken and fall off. During severe
years, such as the rapid outbreak in 2024, nearly 60% of the cacao crop turned
black and dropped at the flowering stage.
To address this, Dr Varanashi shifted focus from treating the plant to
strengthening the soil. “The enemy of your enemy is your friend,” he says,
explaining the logic behind bio-control."
Via
Reasons to be Cheerful:
<
https://reasonstobecheerful.world/what-were-reading-lessons-from-grandmother-cacao/>
Cheers,
*** Xanni ***
--
mailto:xanni@xanadu.net Andrew Pam
http://xanadu.com.au/ Chief Scientist, Xanadu
https://glasswings.com.au/ Partner, Glass Wings
https://sericyb.com.au/ Manager, Serious Cybernetics
