Helping farmers in Belize become sustainable

By Anne Consroe

Last week, I returned home after 10 days in Belize, traveling and working with Sustainable Harvest International.

SHI was founded in 1997 to address deforestation issues in Central America and to provide farmers with sustainable alternatives to slash-and-burn agriculture. Slash-and-burning entails cutting down and burning debris to create fields for agriculture or livestock. It is considered detrimental because large fires are hard to control, and deplete the soil of complex microorganisms, nutrients and beneficial bugs and bacteria.

I was part of a team working in Toledo—the poorest district in Belize—and spent our week planting, constructing and teaching the participating families about sustainable farming techniques.

SHI strives toward environmental, economic and social sustainability, and only works in communities where they have been invited. Currently, they have projects going in Belize, Honduras, Nicaragua and Panama. SHI provides materials and instruction for sustainable practices, and provides regular, long-term assistance until participants are comfortable using the new techniques on their own.

And now for a breakdown of our week:

Saturday: We helped build a wood-conserving stove. A simple stove made from concrete, it includes an oven and a stovetop, and allows the user to burn significantly less wood than a more traditional open fire stove. My role here was to assist with concrete masonry. This was the fourth wood-conserving stove SHI has provided in the Toledo district; it was built in a participant’s kitchen.

Monday: We installed a solar latrine. A participating family had been using a makeshift outhouse since they moved onto their property. A solar latrine will provide safe facilities for the family to dispose of their waste while keeping in mind the health of the surrounding soil and water. The solar latrine has a raised foundation, under which waste has space and time to dry out and decompose through solar heat-inducing glass windows. After the waste has sufficient time to decompose, it can safely be used on crops, keeping close care not to let the manure directly touch food. For example, it can be used at the base of pineapple trees but not directly on peppers. SHI provides ample training to participants, ensuring their complete understanding of risks associated with such a practice. My role in building the solar latrine was again assisting with concrete as we constructed the foundation.

Tuesday: We planted 75 coconut trees on the same farm as the solar latrine, and 100 cocoa trees on a large plantation garden in the same community. We learned cocoa trees need a lot of shade (75-80 percent), so we planted the cocoa trees under already-present coconut trees. In addition to shade, the two trees receive beneficial nutrients from each other. Previously, this plantation farmer had slash-and-burned his fields, and SHI is in the process of educating him on other sustainable practices. SHI is setting him up with a “constant harvest” idea on his soon-to-be very diverse farm.

After planting, we built one regular chicken coop and one movable chicken coop for two other families in the same area. The idea behind the movable chicken coop is that the chickens will spend some time on one small plot of land, scratching and pecking up the soil and naturally adding essential nutrients through their waste. Then the farmer can move the coop and chickens to another plot of land, and start a garden on the rich soil where the coop had been.

Wednesday: We built four more coops and planted 40 coconut trees throughout the community.

Thursday: Our SHI leaders organized, and we assisted with, an organic pesticides and fungicide training for the community where we had been working. Madre de Cocoa (a natural insecticide), mixed with water and white limestone powder (a natural preservative), can be applied directly on leaves as an organic insecticide without using harmful chemicals. We also demonstrated how Madre de Cocoa leaves can be mixed with ground corn to be used as an organic way to control rats and mice, and how papaya leaves, mixed with water, soap (to enable the mixture to stick to the plant), and white lime can be used as an organic fungicide. Individuals living in secluded communities may not otherwise have the opportunity to learn about organic alternatives to conventional and popular chemicals.

Friday: We began the construction of a water tank for a farmer who has problems watering his fields during the dry season. We began the tank with chicken wire and cardboard, and started filling in the chicken wire with cement. A water-catchment tank is an easy way to catch rainwater during rainy seasons to be used not only for irrigation, but also other essential needs should something happen to the available supply of well water.

Overall, it was an amazing trip and I would recommend an agriculture service trip to you all. Hard manual labor, yes, but also with great rewards. So get out there and get some dirt on your hands.

Visit http://sustainableharvest.org/ to learn more about SHI. Click on “International Programs” to learn more about their “smaller world” trips.