Local farmers tend to an avocado tree. (IMAGE)
Caption
Local farmers tend to an avocado tree in Nicaragua.
As they collected leaf samples, the researchers interviewed local gardeners and rural farmers to learn more about native avocado varieties. The locals shared valuable insights with the researchers. They confirmed that these lowland avocado landraces had not experienced root rot, the most common disease affecting commercial avocados. Some Nicaraguan farmers even graft commercial avocado branches onto native avocado trees, which are better adapted to the local environment.
During a tour of one grove in Nicaragua, a farmer offered Wann an avocado, unaware that the scientist had never tasted the fruit he studied. “I wanted to see how far I could go into my dissertation studying avocados without ever eating one,” he said. “I made it four years but when one of the native farmers offered me one, I couldn’t turn him down.”
“And it was delicious,” adds Wann, who now routinely enjoys guacamole.
Credit
Kevin Wann, 2024 Nejapa Archaeology Project
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