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. 

The pepper vines began a light production of pepper, a little prematurely, in 2002 (since that date, we have learned better practice).  Victor and his wife Rosa took in the crop at the green/yellow stage.  Thereafter, Rosa carried out the processing.  She washed, hot-dipped and sundried the crop, eventually producing dried black peppercorns.  Instead of selling directly to a local buyer, she borrowed a grinder and ground the pepper.  To this, she added about 25% by volume of ground cumin (which is local custom) and packed the resulting mixture into small plastic packs.  She sold these small packs individually to households and restaurants in La Ceiba.  The product was thus very fresh and completely organic.  In this first venture into "value-added" production, she made about $200.  At the second cropping, she repeated the process and made about $900.

Although this is a most heartening story of enterprise and persistence, it illustrates the more fundamental point that we are making here.   The growing and processing took place "on her own doorstep"; this is the key concept in an alternative to shifting cultivation.  It would have been impossible for the family to contemplate the risks and logistics of attempting to plant, nurture and guard cash-crop perennials of this kind in a swidden which is located, say, 2 hours' walk from their home.  She could not take the youngest children with her, nor could she leave them alone for hours at a time.

For the first time, a family, formerly subsisting by shifting cultivation (and also, in this case, by illegal charcoal-burning) can include themselves directly in the farm economy.

Victor is currently expanding his Inga alleys; and has taken over another trial plot near the house for maize production.

Both trial plots described above survived, at an early stage of their development, complete defoliation during hurricane Mitch (Oct. 1998).  All the trees recovered and went on to "capture" their respective sites without loss.

Source  :  Cam Inga Project and FUPNAPIB.  2004