Case Histories

In the year 2000, Ruben Mendoza took his first maize crop for many years from a site, near his village, which had previously been incapable of any agricultural use. The site had been slashed-and-burned years before and had become dominated by bunch-grasses and scrub vegetation. In 1997, Ruben planted the Inga tree rows with seedlings from our project nursery. The trees required over 2 years to achieve site "capture", but eventually underwent a successful pruning to enable the crop to be sown.

Pepper as an Orgainic Cash-crop

The family in the second example live high up near the crest of one of the mountain ridges of the Pico Bonito National Park; actually in the buffer-zone of the Park. The farmer, Victor Coronado elected to plant a trial area of Inga alleys in 1998. Shortly after planting, he further elected to forgo basic grains and to plant pepper, together with the necessary living support trees (Gliricidia sepium), within the Inga alleys. He did this in the knowledge that he could not expect any return for perhaps four years.

Basic Grains and Firewood

The farmer in this case is Israel Matute who lives at Aguas Calientes near San Lorenzo in Yoro, Honduras. His Inga plot was established with help from FUPNAPIB (Fundación Parque Nacional Pico Bonito) in a follow-on project from the Cambridge Inga Project, known as "Guama Sur". Since initial success with the system, Israel has increased his Inga planting. In 2005 he described the original site as covered by invasive grasses and "sterile" for cropping purposes until recaptured by the Inga over a 2-year period. It had originally been slashed and burned some years before.