Help save the rain forest – Honduras

Slash and burn is a subsistence farming method used by millions of families in the tropics where a patch of forest is cut down and burnt in order to create an area of fertile soil on which they can grow their food. However, the soil fertility doesn’t last. Once cleared of trees and exposed to the strong tropical climate, the bare soil is rapidly stripped of valuable nutrients. The first year of slash and burn generally gives a good crop, the next year less so and, by the 3rd year, crops often fail completely. This forces family who depend on slash and burn to keep clearing fresh areas of rainforest every few years, just to survive.

The IngaFoundation are working with one family at a time to tackle the huge threat that slashes and burn poses. As well as protecting the rainforest, taking up Inga Alley Cropping allows families to escape the vicious cycle of slash and burn farming and gain genuine food security and a sustainable livelihood.

The IngaFoundation is educating farmers in countries like Honduras to move away from traditional farming methods like slash and burn and educate them on how to farm using the Inga Alley Crop method, which will help save the rainforest land and help the farmers become sufficient to grow their farming empire.

Inga Alley Cropping is a new way of life for farmers in the tropics. The simple method is to grow a tree nursery in lines, with enough gap in between. The reason it is called Inga Alley Cropping is that the trees make an alleyway in the forest, which will be dark under the towering trees. What the Inga Farmers will then need to do is to prune the trees so they are of chest height. The leaves that are pulled from the trees are used on the ground for two reasons, 1) they will compose and provide fertilisation for the ground to help grow crops, at the same time as in the tropics the heat would usually burn the soil, the leaves act as a protection method to keep the ground cool and soft for plantation, and 2) the branches that are cut down from the trees are then used as firewood to heat homes and stoves.

With Alley cropping, this means that the farmers have more time on their hands to exploit their farms. So they will become self-sufficient and explore other avenues, such as grounding the pepper they grow to sell other condiments. This means either working the old fashion way or moving into a new era. So many farmers now are using the proceeds available to themselves from their crops to purchase hand tools and equipment to further advance their agriculture behavior.

This means that a Power Generator is now the next step for these farmers. No more are they cutting down trees and burning them to fertilize the ground (which does not keep the land sustainable).

With this new method of farming, the land will be able to regenerate as well as recycle nutrients to not only help their crops grow but help them become more organic and move away from using expensive chemicals, which in turn will have an adverse effect on the crops that are grown.

Click here to view the video which explains in full detail what the IngaFoundation are trying to achieve. More and more farmers are now seeing their fellow farmers benefiting from this method and now taking a leaf from their book and the following suit.

Constant Power Solutions are proud to be helping farmers and the IngaFoundation to save the rainforest and improve their way of life.

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