The only system which emerged from years of trials with any semblance of sustainability in this context was that of alley-cropping using the tough mulch derived from nitrogen-fixing trees of the genus Inga.  In this system, the trees are planted as seedlings in hedgerow configuration, usually along the contours of the terrain.  Distance between the hedgerows is about 4 metres (hence "alley-cropping"), and the trees, 50cm. apart within the rows, are allowed completely to dominate the site; a process usually requiring 1½ to 2 years' growth.  The resulting planting density, at 5,000 per ha., is high. Key characteristics of the system are as follows :

1. As soon as site-capture is achieved, and at the appropriate planting season, the trees are pruned back to about 1.5m. in height and the foliage is spread across the soil surface as an organic mulch. 
2. The most demanding test crop has been maize; and this system is the only one demonstrating sustainability on the leached acid soils which are typical of the TRF regions.  The maize seed is planted in the normal way, directly into the soil beneath the mulch which begins slowly to decompose whilst smothering all weed growth.
3. Thereafter, permanent mulch cover is achieved by repeated cycles of free growth, pruning and cropping. 
4. At least one crop per year has proved possible, and where rainfall patterns permit, 6 month rotations of maize and beans have been proven.
5. The project's two demonstration farms now also include six examples of cash-crop cultivars grown within the alley system, in addition to the rotated plots holding basic grains.

Although the basic scientific research and trials of the system were carried out in the humid tropical lowlands of Costa Rica, the project has conducted on-farm field trials with slash and burn farmers in northern Honduras, where much of the original rainforest cover has been destroyed and replaced by fire climax grasses.  There, entire landscapes of mountain ranges, to the farthest horizon, have been stripped of their forest cover in the consumptive process of slash and burn agriculture.

The minimal conditions of a sustainable livelihood

On very degraded sites, the subsistence cropping system is aided by a light application of rock-phosphate; this is the one nutrient supplement which was indicated by long-term trials as being critical to sustainability.  While it has to be considered likely that sustainable crop production will eventually require other supplements (such as dolomitic lime), availability of phosphorus ranks as the foremost and critical factor.  In the context of subsistence agriculture, such as this, the role of the trees in retrieving, retaining and recycling critical nutrients becomes vital.  The inevitable losses through leaching, that might be economically tolerable in plantation or mechanised agriculture, are not tolerable in this context.

Testing and demonstrating the alternative

The basic scientific research and development phases are now long over.  In applying these findings, the researchers have teamed up with a number of the more vigorous NGOs and institutions operating in Honduras; and it is with them that the on-farm trials have been conducted.

These trials have shown that, although the system is not, and never could be, a "quick fix" for the farmers involved, alley-cropping with Inga has proved itself to be an outstanding success.  Campesino farmers were shown the various systems in use for basic grains (eg. maize, beans, etc.) and for cash-crops such as black-pepper, pineapple, vanilla, etc.

Their response has been almost unanimously positive for the system; with demand for Inga seed and technical assistance overwhelming the project's ability at that time to supply either in huge quantities.

Demonstration farms covering some 4 ha. of alley-cropping have been established on two sites; one in the secure campus of CURLA near La Ceiba; the other on the steeply-sloping terrain of a degraded former cattle ranch in the Valle de Cuero; the western edge of the Pico Bonito National Park.

The present state of the project

By May 2002 (the end of the last funding phase), the project had established two demonstration farms (and associated seed-banks). By 2004, several thousands of campesino farmers had been brought through the demo-farms.  Vitally important in this context is that about 30 on-farm trials (such as the 3 outlined below) have shown us and the farmers concerned that there is no fundamental obstacle to the introduction and adoption of the system.  However, alley-cropping involves concepts and practices that are new to them; its adoption implies an overturning and supplanting of deeply-rooted cultural traditions.  Because of the unavoidably long lead-in times required for any farmer to adopt the system (seasonality, seed-collection, nurseries, site-capture, etc.), neighbour-to-neighbour diffusion is inevitably slow.  It has become very clear to us that the system must be demonstrated, not merely described; and that its dissemination will be accelerated by local demo-centres and seed-banks.  One small plot, with one key individual in a locality, may be sufficient for local demonstration purposes, but experience over the past few years is indicating to the partners that a concentrated effort within communities, rather than with a scatter of individuals, will be far more effective at disseminating the system in the region as a whole.

A community can become very widely known in the context of rural development regionally; whereas an individual might not become so well-known.

The partners in this project :

NGOs in northern Honduras and Peru

FUPNAPIB, and especially its Director, the late Ing. Gerardo Rodriguez, have played an outstanding role in identifying the participants for the on-farm trials; in their establishment and operation; and in their monitoring.  As the NGO responsible for the well-being of over 1,000 square km. of the National Park, FUPNAPIB has welcomed any possibility of turning back the tide of forest destruction, whilst always remaining aware that it has no humane choice other than to work with the existing farming communities in the buffer-zone, and not against them.  As the agency with whom these communities have first contact, and as the agency potentially able to certify and market such products as organic black pepper grown within a conservation strategy, FUPNAPIB occupies a powerful and vitally important position.

1. In the period since the end of funding for the Cambridge Inga Projects (CAM), other NGOs have begun building a prominent role in implementation.  MOPAWI now operate a very professionally founded project in the upper catchment of the Patuca River in the Mosquitia.
2. In a project virtually unknown to this author, and since the end of the CAM projects, Luis Miranda, now working for COATLAL, has established 17 Inga plots in the vicinity of Lancetilla in northern Honduras.  Luis gained his experience with the CAM project in the years 2000-2002 and is now carrying this knowledge forward.
3. A modest growth in the number of Inga plots has taken place in the area centred on the Pech Maya Tribal Reserve in Carbon, Olancho.

Peru

Long-standing colleagues of Dr. Terry Pennington of Kew have begun a demonstration farm at Chanchamayo, San Ramon in the Peruvian Amazon.  The project's Director has visited the demonstration facility in Honduras with MRH who is overseas co-ordinator for the project.

Summary

The NGOs want to expand the introduction of the strategy outlined here, in and around the National Park.  The other NGOs are replicating this pioneering work.

All are ready to expand their remits in offering field courses to farmer groups and extension workers from all over northern Honduras and, regionally, from the wet forest zones of Central and South America.