WHEN one of the world’s richest men wants to talk bananas, you talk bananas.
That wasn’t really a stretch for Queensland University of Technology (QUT) researcher Professor James Dale who is leading a project producing vitamin A enriched bananas for sub-Saharan Africa.
Funding a large proportion of the project is the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation.
While holidaying in Australia last December, the couple “dropped in” for a chat with Professor Dale to see how the project was progressing.
Far from the stereotype of cashed-up philanthropists shovelling money at good causes for positive PR, Prof Dale said the couple was down-to-earth and very interested in what was going on.
“One of the very impressive things about the whole program is that they are incredibly connected with the programs that they’ve funded, which is fabulous,” Prof Dale said.
“It was one of the most amazing conversations I’ve ever had.”
Professor Dale met the Gates family back in 2005 when they briefly addressed a meeting about the project.
On this recent visit, the couple wanted to see the trial plots of the banana biofortification project in Innisfail, North Queensland.
Poor weather altered those plans, with Prof Dale and his team meeting up with them in Cairns for what he called “a very sophisticated discussion”.
The Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation has contributed close to $10 million of funding over the past seven years to its Grand Challenges in Global Health program.
With bananas being a major staple food crop in Africa, micronutrient deficiencies, particularly vitamin A deficiency and iron deficiency anemia present huge public health problems in the region, leading to mortality, blindness, impaired immune function and brain development.
The QUT field trials in Innisfail have produced bananas with far greater amounts of pro-vitamin A than regular bananas.
Prof Dale said the aim was to produce a banana with fourfold amounts of vitamin A- they have in fact produced lines with up to 15 times the amount.
The technology has been transferred to Ugandan research partners at the National Agricultural Research Organisation of Uganda, where the bananas are already in a field trial.
A second project also partly funded by the Gates Foundation is focussed on banana disease resistance.
Testing has begun in the Northern Territory for a Fusarium wilt race 4 (Panama disease) resistant varieties.
The team has already generated Lady finger bananas with near immunity to Fusarium wilt race 1, which is common in all banana-growing countries.
Prof Dale said further research projects have been planned, including bananas resistant to black sigatoka and bunchy top.
Phase 3 of the improved vitamin banana is set to begin, which will move into the product development area.
Prof Dale said the Gates Foundation was clear that it wanted to see something tangible at the end, not just folders of documents.
“It’s not a research project- it’s a product development project,” he said.
Australia’s resilient banana industry presents an ideal basis for such research programs.
“We’ve got a very, very good history of banana research and development,” Prof Dale said.
The research team is hoping for a 2019 release of the vitamin A enhanced banana in Africa.
As for meeting the billionaires in person? Prof Dale said they chatted as if they’d “known them for years”.
“It was a tremendous privilege for the five of us involved in the project to meet with the Gates and experience in person their commitment and enthusiasm."
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