Marvin © Nick Sireau/ Progressio

Nick Sireau describes how farmers in Honduras are making a living - and protecting the environment

Up in the hills around Pico Bonito, near La Ceiba in northern Honduras, many peasant farmers barely make a living from farming the land. Although they use chemical fertilisers to increase yields, they still don't produce enough to feed themselves and their families.

Traditional farming practices don't help. Many have been taught to slash and burn, rendering the soil useless as they keep on searching for new lands. Rather than working with the earth to ensure their farming is sustainable, they tend to work against it. This has led to widespread malnutrition, ill health and desperate poverty.

Sustainable farming

However, major changes are starting to take place, thanks to Progressio partner the Pico Bonito Foundation. Run by a group of committed local people - all farmers themselves - it is revolutionising farming in the area by teaching farmers sustainable organic food production.

Victor is a farmer who works with the foundation. The foundation, he says, has totally changed his way of farming. Now he teaches others about it. He says: 'We work with poor farmers. We teach them new and better techniques. We show them how to make organic fertiliser and use it for growing beans and corn.'

Pico Bonito uses a farming system developed at Cambridge University, with which it has strong links. It uses a local plant - guama - that naturally produces nitrogen, a vital nutrient for the soil. By planting it alongside corn, beans, pineapple or other fruit or vegetables, it leads to major increases in production.

Replenishing the soil

Victor explains: 'Guama replenishes the soil depleted by too much agriculture. We plant it in terraces and it allows us to farm a plot for up to 20 years. It protects against soil erosion and also provides firewood. It's much better than slash and burn.'

The local farmers are delighted. Faustino is one of them. His harvest has increased three-fold since he's started using guama and the organic techniques taught by the foundation.

He says: 'Production has increased and is of better quality because of new farming techniques we have learnt. Before this, we didn't grow enough to feed ourselves. There were too many chemicals in our food and our diet was poor. Now we easily produce enough.'

Expert work

At the centre of all this is a Progessio development worker, Marvin Zavala Ruiz, an agronomist. As with all our development workers, he is one of the best experts in his field, highly trained and with years of experience.

He tells me: 'We help the 116 communities in the area find appropriate ways of farming and caring for local resources.'

Marvin is working with the farmers to plant millions of new trees. He helped the foundation set up two tree nurseries in February. They have produced 50,000 trees so far, which they will be planting later in the year. Within five years, they plan to plant five million trees. These trees - such as the black laurel - will take 15 years to grow and can then be cut down and used for furniture.

The wood then sells for 12 to 18 lempiras (just under US$1) per square foot, and one tree can produce 900 square feet. That's a significant income. Rather than the indiscriminate and illegal logging taking place in other parts of Honduras, this is sustainable.

Vital income

And the production of the trees creates much needed income for the local villages. For instance, Rosa and many other local villagers work for the Pico Bonito Foundation, filling small bags with organically fertilised soil. The bags are then used to plant small shoots and grow trees. Rosa earns 0.25 lempiras per bag filled and can fill 250 bags in one day.

She says: 'It's good because we poor people can now earn some money. Before, there was no way to earn much. Without this project, we would be struggling.'