Agriculture
We are situated in a farming community, but these farms are on mountain slopes. The rich landowners and US companies have purchased the flat land on the coastal plain and the poor are pushed up into the mountains. In order to support their families, farmers use the only method of farming they know: slash and burn.
This system is not sustainable, however. In the first years their ancestors farmed these slopes, over eighty years ago, the land was virgin forest and therefore quite fertile. There was also a lot of land to use a different fertile plot each time they planted. For example, an older man we know planted twenty pounds of beans and harvested 2,000 pounds! Today, the land is so infertile that men plant one hundred pounds of beans to harvest 1,400 pounds--if they are lucky.
In his early years in Honduras, Larry saw this as one of the greatest physical needs for our neigbors. So he began studying and investigating different methods that might yield a bigger harvest. A bigger harvest means more money, better nutrition, more ability for children to learn in school and the potential for a future that is not lived in a state of suspense over each day's survival.
He discovered a method of planting erosion control barriers along the contours of the land using a leguminous tree named inga adulis. This tree fixes nitrogen in the soil and thereby fertilizes the soil. This fertile soil is ready to produce a better crop. In addition, each year Larry cuts back the branches on the trees and lays them along the barrier to enforce the barrier; he cuts off the leaves and places them on the soil, creating a layer of mulch over a foot deep on each of the alleys between the barriers. As the rainfall of one hundred inches each year hits the land, it lands softly on the mulch and penetrates down to the soil. The moisture is trapped, creating a good environment for growing crops.
Our neighbors' land, in contrast, is hit directly by the hundred inches of rain because they have cut everything off of it and burned it. Their barely fertile soil is then struck directly and carried down the mountain. Without an erosion control barrier to stop the fall, any potential soil runs down the mountain and into the river.
This method has been adopted by several farmers in our area after seeing the success using this method. It truly is good news for the poor and a way God shows his great love for them and that he has not left them in their poverty.
In addition to the large-scale farming, we also have a backyard garden to produce food for our Campus, and will be training some local pastors how to do garden in a way to provide for their families and perhaps support their congregations by growing enough vegetables to sell.
This system is not sustainable, however. In the first years their ancestors farmed these slopes, over eighty years ago, the land was virgin forest and therefore quite fertile. There was also a lot of land to use a different fertile plot each time they planted. For example, an older man we know planted twenty pounds of beans and harvested 2,000 pounds! Today, the land is so infertile that men plant one hundred pounds of beans to harvest 1,400 pounds--if they are lucky.
In his early years in Honduras, Larry saw this as one of the greatest physical needs for our neigbors. So he began studying and investigating different methods that might yield a bigger harvest. A bigger harvest means more money, better nutrition, more ability for children to learn in school and the potential for a future that is not lived in a state of suspense over each day's survival.
He discovered a method of planting erosion control barriers along the contours of the land using a leguminous tree named inga adulis. This tree fixes nitrogen in the soil and thereby fertilizes the soil. This fertile soil is ready to produce a better crop. In addition, each year Larry cuts back the branches on the trees and lays them along the barrier to enforce the barrier; he cuts off the leaves and places them on the soil, creating a layer of mulch over a foot deep on each of the alleys between the barriers. As the rainfall of one hundred inches each year hits the land, it lands softly on the mulch and penetrates down to the soil. The moisture is trapped, creating a good environment for growing crops.
Our neighbors' land, in contrast, is hit directly by the hundred inches of rain because they have cut everything off of it and burned it. Their barely fertile soil is then struck directly and carried down the mountain. Without an erosion control barrier to stop the fall, any potential soil runs down the mountain and into the river.
This method has been adopted by several farmers in our area after seeing the success using this method. It truly is good news for the poor and a way God shows his great love for them and that he has not left them in their poverty.
In addition to the large-scale farming, we also have a backyard garden to produce food for our Campus, and will be training some local pastors how to do garden in a way to provide for their families and perhaps support their congregations by growing enough vegetables to sell.