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.

At the time of the "primera" maize planting, around June 2006, Israel and members of his extended family undertook a very light weeding operation beneath the canopy of his Inga alleys.  They then carried out the pruning of the entire plot, extracting very large quantities of Inga stem and branch material as firewood.  About one week after the pruning, and after the mulch had settled, they sowed maize in the normal way within the alleys.  The crop (his second) was heavier than the first in 2005 and required not one single weeding operation during its growth up to harvest.  The mulch had achieved 100% weed control for him.

Israel recounts that he has carried out a hypothetical cost calculation on this cropping episode, as follows :

Had he employed people, at normal rates, to carry out the pruning, and had he then sold the resulting cargas of firewood at the current prevailing price of about 10 Lps. (about US 50 cents) per carga, he would have made a small profit on the operation.  In actual fact, he distributed the firewood amongst his extended family, where it amounted to the equivalent of 3-months' worth of kitchen stove-fuel for six households.

The point that Israel now makes is that the resulting maize harvest was "free".  The whole firewood and grain harvest was nurtured, guarded and effected on his own doorstep.  No travelling was required, and nor was any weeding.  The maize grain fed his immediate family for one year.

Subsistence farmers in Honduras attempting to nurture developing maize plants on slashed and burned hillsides, distant from their homes, face a daunting task in weed-control amongst the invading grasses.   It is common that they may be required to exert labour inputs exceeding 150 man-days, per ha. per year, simply to feed themselves and their families.  In this context, it is not difficult to see why FUPNAPIB personnel regard Israel as one of their "star" farmer advocates.

From Ing. Carolina Zelaya,  FUPNAPIB, 2006.