In this main mango-growing region of Africa, many other small farmers face the same dilemma. And their loss extends to the “mango women” who sell the fruit at market.
“Before 2010 [we lost] 50% [of the fruit], but now 75% of fruits are spoiled,” Yacuobuo said before the start of this year’s growing season. “The women would come and say, ‘We go to Lome [the capital city] after we see all the mangos we bought from you are spoiled.’ And then I was discouraged, and after that I stopped. I didn’t sell.”
When Israeli agtech entrepreneur Nimrod Israely heard Yakuobuo’s story, he relates, “I thought to myself, this is why I studied entomology; this is why I founded Biofeed! And so I simply said to Yakuobuo, ‘Let’s change it.’”
Israely, who has a PhD in fruit-fly ecology, invented FreeDome — a line of no-spray, environmentally friendly lures containing an organic customized mix of food, feeding stimulants and control or therapeutic agents delivered by a patented gravity-controlled fluid release platform to kill the tiny flies that destroy fruits and vegetables growing in Asia, Africa and the Americas.
His startup, Biofeed, demonstrated an overall decrease of Oriental fruit-fly infestation from 95 percent to less than 5% in a pilot test with Indian mango farmers. --
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ISRAEL21c was founded in 2001, in the wake of the Second Intifada, to broaden public understanding of Israel beyond typical portrayals in the mainstream media.
The organization’s founders – Israeli-American technology executives – understood the great power of the Internet and developed a first-of-its kind online product with global appeal and reach.
In the Central Valley of Togo, a mango grower named Yacuobuo started killing his trees due to fruit-fly infestation that has decimated his crop over the past three years.
