Hands and many other scientists had believed that the availability of phosphorus was the deciding factor in the success of a crop yield. But his research eventually showed that it was a certain form, rock phosphate, that needed to be added to the soil if alternatives to slash-and-burn were going to work.
His research also showed that only inga alley cropping supplemented with the rock phosphate, as well as a mixture of potassium and magnesium sulphates, provided a long-term, sustainable agricultural system. Inga alley cropping was the most efficient at retrieving and retaining the phosphorous.
“That’s really the key to food security,” Hands said, “and the end of poverty in Central America, in my opinion.”
The Inga Foundation’s Land for Life Project near Honduras’s Pico Bonito National Park provides families with a mixture of 1-2 hectares (2.5-5 acres) of inga alleys and at least 2 hectares of fruit trees or other cash crops.
So far, the plots have withstood erosion and tropical storms. During hurricanes Eta and Iota in 2020, many crops were blown away from neighboring properties, but the inga trees stood firm.
The foundation is now working with more than 400 families in Honduras, some of them in their second decade of alley cropping inga trees. This year, the organization expects to reach the landmark of 450,000 tons of CO2 sequestration and the restoration of 1,052 hectares (2,600 acres) of degraded land.
But despite the apparent success of the system, funding and growth have been hard to come by. Hands said he thinks it’s because the project sidesteps some of the usual things that attract international investors, such as profit, and that would allow his innovative system to be expanded to the rest of Central America and beyond.
“Nobody involved in this makes money except for the small farmers,” he said. “They get food security and they sell things and lift themselves out of poverty. They do all the managing. They do all of the work. It’s their system and nobody outside makes money.”
Banner image: Corn grows in the alley of pruned inga trees in Honduras. Image via the Inga Foundation.
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agribusiness, Agriculture, Agroforestry, Conservation, Deforestation, Environment, Farming, Forests, Organic Farming, Research, Sustainability
Central America, Honduras
Source link : https://news.mongabay.com/2021/10/inga-tree-points-to-way-out-of-slash-and-burn-for-central-american-farmers/
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Publish date : 2021-10-27 03:00:00
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