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A 5 cent sheet of plastic could be the key to allow small Latin American banana growers to access one of the most demanding markets on Earth.

"If a banana is damaged or spotted it may be accepted in the Caribbean, but it is not good enough for the European market," said Joaquín Díaz, FAO consultant in the Dominican Republic's Banana Program.

Hundreds of small Dominican producers are being trained by FAO in a technique which allows the fruit to be protected from damage. The mechanism, known as "Nun's neck", consists of a light polyurethane sheet placed around each hand of bananas, as Díaz explained to BBC World.

"Each bunch has a cluster, and each cluster has an average of nine banana hands. From those, the lower one is not productive for exports, so it is discarded. The Nun's Neck is placed around the six most important hands to separate them from one another."

The technique has been used for years in the Dominican Republic by larger producers, as well as in Costa Rica and Ecuador. FAO is trying to make it available for the great majority of growers.

"70% of the producers here are very small, with less than three hectares. With FAO's help we distribute 700,000 Nun's necks to more than 700 producers. We know that it is an effective technique," Díaz pointed out.

It is estimated that 30% of the fruit from smaller growers may be rejected for various reasons, according to Díaz, and one of them is a bad handling of the clusters.

"With Nun's necks the rejection rates are reduced by between 20 and 30%," he explained.



Source: BBC

Bill Cosby is the victim of a death hoax.

The comedy legend was rumored to have died in a report that spread on Facebook late Monday.

It appears that speculation was first sparked by a phony “R.I.P. Bill Cosby” page on the platform.

Cosby is NOT dead.

He’s alive and well.

Unfortunately, it’s not the first time the entertainer and educator has been falsely “killed” by social media.

As Gossip Cop has noted, these hoaxes tend to come in waves, and there have already been multiple fake “deaths” this week.

its soo gooddddddddd

with milk in it

Los Angeles (CNN) -- Investigators targeted Lindsay Lohan and her assistant as suspects in a Hollywood burglary, but the district attorney decided Tuesday there was not enough evidence to prosecute them.
"Lindsay is glad this matter has been cleared up so she can focus on her upcoming projects," her publicist said in a statement sent to CNN soon after the district attorney's office released a summary of the investigation. "It is unfortunate that many media outlets were quick to point fingers and jump to conclusions without having all the facts."

Lindsay Lohan banned from Chateau Marmont for failing to pay a whopping $46,000 bill

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