Is chlordecone an obstacle to the development of agroecology in West Indian banana plantations?
Published on 26/04/2022
With the aim of reducing the use of pesticides and maintaining the fertility of tropical soils, grassing banana plantations is an effective solution. However, it leads to an increase in work time due to the maintenance of this plant cover. In a "Sustainable Territories" project supported by CIRAD, a test system is underway in Guadeloupe....
It is based on a participatory approach and the introduction of animals to control the grass cover. The species chosen is the sheep (Martinik breed), which is a compromise between fodder collection and non-degradation of the banana trees. Some of the land currently used for banana cultivation is still contaminated with chlordecone, which raises the question of transfer to the animals that are grazed there (for the record, there is no transfer to bananas). It is in relation to this question that the MRCA team is intervening with serum and faeces analyses thanks to the intervention of researchers from the INRAE in Petit-Bourg (who are also working on parasitism management) and the analytical capacities of the Pasteur Institute in Guadeloupe. Our objective is to establish a link between grazing conditions, soil contamination and animal contamination. The following link refers to the video presenting this project.
