i Patrick W. Staib Anthropology This dissertation is approved, and it ...

unsuccessfully combated, can only be controlled by complete removal of the infected
plants.
Roya del café or coffee leaf rust is another fungal infection that can decimate
entire plantations if undetected or left uncontrolled. For this illness, CLUSA técnicos
trained farmers to brew another remedy known as Caldo Vicosa, a mixture of copper
sulfate, zinc sulfate, magnesium sulfate, borax, and lime that is boiled, cooled, and
diluted for spraying on plants. Roya is an infection unique to coffee plants and has
followed the expansion of coffee agriculture from its origins in eastern Africa to Latin
America and Asia (Restrepo 2001:130).
Most farmers have at least some broca in their fields; it is important for them to
keep an eye on the rate of broca infestation and take measures to control the broca
propagation. The organic method of broca control is known as graniteo. This is a process
of selecting the coffee fruits that have been perforated by looking for the hole at the tip of
the fruit that the mature insect bored to deposit her eggs. One then picks the green fruits
and submerges them in alcohol or another noxious liquid to ensure the broca are killed.
Wealthier farmers may invest in specially designed traps. I attended farmer
trainings where técnicos detailed how to make your own broca trap. A costly fungal
treatment known as beauveria will also repel the pest. Synthetic pesticides are dangerous
to spray into the fields. They affect wildlife habitat abd foodources because they are
broadly dispersed through the plantation. The most common practice is to control broca
with graniteo.
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