Author
 |
Lapointe, Stephen |
|
Submitted to: Florida Entomologist
Publication Type: Peer Reviewed Journal Publication Acceptance Date: 4/1/2015 Publication Date: 6/1/2015 Citation: Lapointe, S.L. 2015. A tribute to Dr. Anthony C. Bellotti and his contributions to cassava entomology. Florida Entomologist. 98(2):810-814. Interpretive Summary: Anthony (Tony) Bellotti’s career as a humanitarian and entomologist followed a trajectory that took him to El Salvador with the Peace Corps (PC) in 1962, New Mexico State for a Masters, Paraguay (again with the Peace Corps), Cornell University for a PhD, and Colombia where he worked for the Centro Internacional de Agricultua Tropical (CIAT) from 1974 until his passing in March, 2013 in Naples, Florida. Tony became a passionate advocate of cassava, and one of the world’s pre-eminent authorities on the entomology of that orphan crop that sustains millions of the world’s poorest populations. Tony played a crucial role in one of the most often cited and successful examples of classical biological control, the introduction of a parasitoid wasp from Paraguay to control the cassava mealybug throughout a broad area of Africa known as the Cassava Belt. His career spanned a period of time that might be referred to as a golden age of commodity programs at the international “CG Centers” organized under the Consultative Group on International Agricultural Research (CGIAR) that followed in the footsteps of Norman Borlaug and Robert McNamara, the unlikely alliance that led to the Green Revolution. Among Tony’s lesser accomplishments was his recruitment of the author to CIAT in 1986 where I worked on pests of tropical forages and then on cassava IPM in northeastern Brazil and West Africa. Tony was a mentor and a friend whose career offers a chance to look at a unique life and his contributions to international agriculture. Technical Abstract: Anthony (Tony) Bellotti’s career as a humanitarian and entomologist followed a trajectory that took him to El Salvador with the Peace Corps (PC) in 1962, New Mexico State for a Masters, Paraguay (again with the Peace Corps), Cornell University for a PhD, and Colombia where he worked for the Centro Internacional de Agricultua Tropical (CIAT) from 1974 until his passing in March, 2013 in Naples, Florida. Tony became a passionate advocate of cassava, and one of the world’s pre-eminent authorities on the entomology of that orphan crop that sustains millions of the world’s poorest populations. Tony played a crucial role in one of the most often cited and successful examples of classical biological control, the introduction of a parasitoid wasp from Paraguay to control the cassava mealybug throughout a broad area of Africa known as the Cassava Belt. His career spanned a period of time that might be referred to as a golden age of commodity programs at the international “CG Centers” organized under the Consultative Group on International Agricultural Research (CGIAR) that followed in the footsteps of Norman Borlaug and Robert McNamara, the unlikely alliance that led to the Green Revolution. Among Tony’s lesser accomplishments was his recruitment of the author to CIAT in 1986 where I worked on pests of tropical forages and then on cassava IPM in northeastern Brazil and West Africa. Tony was a mentor and a friend whose career offers a chance to look at a unique life and his contributions to international agriculture. |
