Food for All - Agri-culture: Reconnecting People, Land and Nature - page 79

enterprises to his farm, and there are now 28 types of crops and trees,
together with pigs, chickens, rabbits, cattle and horses. Not all flourish
- one day, an earthquake split the bottom of the fish pond. But most of
the diverse enterprises are succeeding on this picturesque farm.
The effect is remarkable. The unimproved soils on the edge of Elias's
farm are no more than a few centimetres deep, and beneath is hard
bedrock. But in the fields where Elias grows legumes as green manures and
uses composts, the soil is thick, dark, and spongy to the step. In some
places on the farm, it is more than half a metre deep. No soils textbook
will say this is possible, as soil is said to take thousands of years to create.
Yet over a decade, Elias, and several tens of thousands of farmers in
Central America like him, have transformed their soils and agricultural
productivity. Elias's own cereal yields are up fourfold, and this agricultural
success has boosted the local economy, with families moving back from
the capital, Tegucigalpa. The demand for labour has put wages at close to
double those in nearby villages. All children now finish their primary
schooling, and seven from Pacayas have gone on to secondary school.
Elias's own daughter is now a teacher at the local school. A neighbour of
Elias says: 'Now, no one ever talks of leaving.' People are more content with their
own place, and they can choose from a range of futures.
Further west of here lies another transformed farm in the village of
Guacamayas, which belongs to Irma de Guittierez Mendez. It, too, is in
the hills - in fact, 85 per cent of Honduras is located on slopes that are
steeper than 15 per cent. Irma farms on the edge of La Tigra National
Park, the watershed for the capital city's drinking water. Her farm is another
model for farmers everywhere - she, too, works with nature rather than
battles against it. The farm is covered with terracita , small terraces to
conserve soil and water. She grows maize; cassava; and four beans; seven
vegetables; banana; guava and avocado; and coffee under apple trees at the
top of the slope. These crops are rotated in order to control diseases, and
Irma brings wasp nests from the forest to hang on the farm trees, which
control pests. She makes her own compost and buys in chicken manures.
Importantly, Irma is also a teacher, both of fellow farmers and of
professional agronomists who come to the valley to see this revolution for
their own eyes. She says: 'One of the things we were taught was the responsibility of
anyone who knows something to teach it to others in the community. As a result, we can
think more about what we are doing now. Community spirit has improved.' Perhaps
some may find this a curious attitude in a world where modern and
competitive methods of agriculture dominate. But Irma is modest: 'Our
purpose is not to make a lot of money, but to help the community as a whole.' There is
also a bigger picture to these improvements. As farmers find ways to
improve the quality and health of their own soils, so the likelihood of