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Honey bee publish details |
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Farmer Experimenters in Honduras: The Technology they Develop on their Own |
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More than sixty farmers in Honduras have been known to develop technologies totally unsupported by institutions or investment, experimenting with a wide range of ways to improve productivity and reduce risks in agricultural practices. In 1999, the Association of Advisors for a Sustainable, Ecological and People-Centred Agriculture (COSECHA), interviewed over 120 farmers and documented 82 outstanding technologies. The criterion for documentation was that the practices should have been developed unaided after the programmmes had been terminated and never before promoted or known within the country. These technologies are extremely inexpensive – most require absolutely no external investment. They use locally available resources, do not increase risk but provide fairly quick, recognisable returns; most of them are highly cost-effective and widely applicable. To give a flavour of the technologies, plus an idea of the value that they could have for other farmers, here is a list of the some of the most promising ones.
Poultry Feed
Consuelo Vásquez Avila made a maize-based animal feed which includes leaves of wild sunflower (Tithonia spp.) and eggshells. Consuelo’s family lives quite a distance from the city. This entailed transportation difficulties and high costs of buying commercial concentrates. Consuelo decided to try and make her own concentrate for hens. She had noticed that when her hens were roaming free they would eat the Tithonia leaves from her garden and the leftover egg shells that had been thrown out. For this reason, she decided to combine the leaves with ground eggshells and corn to make her own concentrate.
Farmer: Consuelo Vásquez Avila, La Esperanza, La Libertad, Comayagua
Insect Control Measures
Antonio Oseguera was not able to afford high cost chemical pesticides and so he started investigating technologies that used local resources and were economical. He observed that aphids died if dried out. He therefore tried using wheat flour diluted in water to spray on fruit trees in his nurseries, and found he could control aphids and other similar sucking pests. Antonio developed this method over a period of two days. He combined 0.5 lbs of wheat flour with four gallons of water to spray on fruit trees, coffee and vegetables. The plants are sprayed twice or thrice, depending on the intensity of infestation. Similarly, to control corn borer he added two spoonfuls (25 cc) of sugar to one litre of water and applied the solution on growing plant tips. A salt solution prepared in a similar way can also be used to control corn borer. His neighbours have been slow to adopt this technology, but all other family members are practising it.
(See Honey Bee, 3(1):15, 1992; 4(4): 16,1993; 5(4):17, 1994; 6(4):13, 1995; 6(1):13, 1995; 8(3): 12, 1997; 10(4):11, 1999 and 11(2) 9, 2000 for other methods to control aphids.)
Farmer: Antonio Oseguera, El Jicarito, San Antonio del Oeste, El Paraíso, Honduras
Anival Núñez noticed that leaf-cutter ants did not like residing near neem trees. By planting neem trees immediately over several troublesome nests of leaf-cutter ants, he was able to get rid of them (they moved their nest elsewhere). This thought came to him after participating in a training workshop where he learnt that neem leaves had insecticidal properties.
(See Honey Bee, 7(2):11, 1996; 9(4): 11, 1998 and 10(4): 9,1999 for other methods on controlling ants.)
Farmer: Anival Núñez, La Meza, Oropolí, El Paraíso
An insecticidal mixture of leaves and bark of the mother of cacao (Glyricidia sepum) tree was used successfully to control several Coleoptera insects affecting bean leaves. Aguinaldo took eight pounds of bark and ten pounds of leaves from the mother of cacao tree and mashed them in a gallon of water. He then left the mixture to ferment for 12 hours. One litre of this mixture with four gallons of water is sprayed on the infected plants. Aguinaldo received help from his family in obtaining the mother of cacao bark and leaves.
Farmer: Aguinaldo Sauceda, Las Casitas, Guinope, El Paraíso
Ash and Coffee Pulp as Fertilisers
José Francisco Benites Cerrato and Santos Pedro Matute developed a foliar fertiliser using animal manure, mother of cacao leaves, leaves of several common weeds and wood ashes. Two pounds of leaves of mother of cacao are ground in a handmill and combined with four gallons of water. This mixture is used as fertiliser for beans. The idea of using ash as fertilser came to them after realising that most farmers burn off their fields before planting. He noticed healthy crop on fields where previous crops stubbles had been burnt. Two ounces of ash is applied directly to each lineal metre of cultivated plants. Ash fertiliser is also of great use in the prevention of various diseases. Since all rural families in Honduras use firewood for cooking, they already have a continuous source of ash to be used as a fertiliser. All family members are involved in the process of collecting the ash.
Farmers: José Francisco Benites Cerrato and Santos Pedro Matute. San José, Guaimaca, Francisco Morazán
Bety Xiomara, found that coffee pulp could be dried just by spreading it out in the sun. Irma Gutierrez experimented mixing the wet coffee pulp with chicken manure or sawdust to dry it. They observed that once dried, the coffee pulp was an excellent fertiliser, one that previously just polluted the country’s rivers. Both of them use five shovels of coffee pulp per lineal metre and are getting good results. Bety and Irma observed that one year after processing the coffee beans, there were well developed new plants coming up through the pulp that had been left on the ground. They first tried using the pulp as a fertiliser in coffee nurseries and achieved very good results and then used the coffee pulp to fertilise beans and vegetables.
Farmers: Bety Xiomara, La Aserradera, Guaimaca, Francisco Morazán and Irma Gutierrez, San Juancito, Francisco Morazán
(See Honey Bee 2(1):14,1991; 3(3&4):15,1992; 4(2&3):10,20,1993; 5(2):9,1994;6(4):9,1995; 7(1): 13,1996; 7(2):3-4,1996; 7(2):12, 1996; 8(3):7,1997 and 10(1): 7;1999 for other preparations of similar kind.)
Foods that Flourish under Stress
The area in which Reina Isabel de López Durón lives is very dry. She observed that sweet potatoes are drought resistant. She grows potatoes in her home garden and whenever need arises she prepares a dish from the leaves. She took two pounds of tender tips of sweet potato leaves and cooked them on low heat for ten minutes. After they cooled, she chopped and mixed them with eggs to make small patties. She then fried the patties in oil. The family liked the dish and Reina is pleased to have this option to feed her family during the times when other food sources are limited.
Another experiment she did was with tomatoes. She made a wine from tomatoes that local people liked. Reina pounded two pounds of tomatoes to obtain half a litre of tomato juice. To this she added half a litre of water and let it set for 12 hours. She says that after 12 hours the wine is ready to be consumed. Reina observed that there are times the farmer’s produce can be lost when the price of the produce is low. It is not economical to take the produce to the urban market. Especially because of the expense and work that it takes to produce tomatoes, the farmers don’t like to see them go waste. So it was worthwhile to try to think of other ways to process and sell tomatoes.
Farmer: Reina Isabel de López Durón, Rancho el Ovispo, Yuscarán el Paraíso
Grafting Neem to make it Grow Faster
José de la Cruz Salgado found that by grafting neem material on to the locally available “paradise” tree rootstock (Amelia spp.), he could get a much faster growth of neem trees at altitudes above 500 metres. Cruz became interested in neem after participating in training courses that introduced the tree as a natural pesticide. But the community where Cruz lived was at an altitude where neem could not flourish. For this reason, Cruz tried grafting neem material on to a “paradise” tree rootstock and found that the growth of the tree is about 80 per cent that of the neem trees that grow at lower altitudes.
Farmer: José de la Cruz Salgado, El Hato, Villa de San Francisco, Francisco Morazán
Green Manuring
Pedro Melcíades Sánchez found that by intercropping jackbeans (Canavalia ensiformis) with cassava plants, he could effectively reduce the weeding time and also increase his cassava productivity by over 25 per cent. He observed that the selling price for basic grains in Honduras was very low for the past three years. For this reason, Pedro decided to grow another crop, in addition to basic grains, that would be more profitable. Pedro chose to grow cassava and tried intercropping the cassava with jackbeans. The results were an excellent cassava harvest and improved soil.
Farmer: Pedro Melcíades Sánchez, San Antonio de Flores, El Paraíso.
Disease Prevention in Crop Plants
Ricardo Galindo Ochoa found that a solution of leaves of mother of cacao and eucalyptus was a very good antifungal agent for tree nurseries. The water extract of two pounds of leaves of both mother of cacao and eucalyptus is diluted with four gallons of water and used as a spray. This spray controls fungus in nurseries of vegetables, fruit and coffee trees.
Farmer: Ricardo Galindo Ochoa, El Carbón, Cantarranas, Francisco Morazán.
Pedro Melciades Sánchez found he could apparently disinfect the soil in a nursery by cultivating the soil well and then covering it with clear plastic sheet so that, it heated up thoroughly under the mid-day sun. He uses this technique for plants that are highly susceptible to illnesses, such as tomato seedlings.
(This is a technique recommended by scientists too.: Ed.)
Farmer: Pedro Melciades Sánchez, San Antonio de Flores, El Paraíso
René Andean Rodriguez and José Francisco Benítez Cerrato spray crops with wood ash mixed in water. They also place wood ash around plants to control a series of plant diseases, even very treacherous ones like late blight (Phytophthera infestans) in tomatoes and potatoes. Two pounds of wood ash is mixed with four gallons of water and allowed to rest for two hours. The extract is strained and used as a spray. Dried powdered ash is also applied to crops. Women of the rural areas put ash around the base of the plants close to their houses after cleaning out their wood-burning stoves. They saw that these plants prospered and therefore tried applying it to other crops as well.
(This is a well known practice around the world.: Ed.).
Farmers: René Andean Rodriguez, Tatumbla, Francisco Morazán and José Francisco Benítez Cerrato, San José, Guaimaca, Francisco Morazán
Why don’t Farmers’ Innovations spread Fast and Wide ?
These technologies can be called low-input or ecological technologies, and in many cases, are totally organic in nature. These are also highly appropriate for economically poor farmers. By and large, these are extremely inexpensive, use locally available resources, do not increase risk, and provide quick returns. Women have also played a very important role in agricultural experimentation. They too have seen the need to develop other alternatives to costly inputs. Women have been experimenting in their domestic gardens of perennials and semi-perennials and then later in the open fields and in other crops.
One of the most disappointing results of the study was that the technologies developed by small farmers had not disseminated very widely. In two cases, the technologies have disseminated widely: the use of coffee pulp as a fertiliser and the intercropping of jackbeans in cassava fields. However, in both cases, this wide dissemination occurred because NGOs happened to find farmers using this technology and decided to disseminate it themselves. Thus, in no case did FE-generated technology spread to more than ten other farmers through the exclusive efforts of local villagers. Why? |
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| Volume No. |
Honey Bee, 12(4):4,5,6 & 11, 2001 |
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