ENVIRONMENT |
ENVIRONMENT |
Welcome to the Honduras This Week Online environment section, a permanent collection of articles relatd to the Enrironment in Honduras. Click here to return to the weekly version of Honduras This Week Online. |
Farmers trained in sustainable agroforestry practices By MARIA FIALLOS
CATACAMAS -- To promote sustainable agroforestry practices and to prevent further destruction of rain forest, a three-day workshop was held at the National Agricultural School in Catacamas (ENA) for farmers living in the Patuca National Park and surrounding region, mainly Matamoros and Cuyamel. Surprisingly, most area campesinos attended, leaving home and family for a week to received the instruction they do desperately need. The three-day event included workshops on sustainable agricultural methods, soil conservation, protected areas and a visit to the completely self-supporting farm of a campesino aided by ENA technicians in the village of Jamasquiri. The participants were satisfied and impressed by the sustainable methodology training they received. Even the most stubborn logger left the guns he usually wears at home and stated he has planted an acre of soil enrichment or fertilizer beans in preparation of the next planting season. The workshop was organized by Mauricio Moreno, an agronomy student at the National Agricultural School in Catacamas (ENA). Moreno recently completed four months of field work for his thesis, basing his study on sustainable agricultural methods as a means of curbing the ever advancing agricultural front into the rain forest. His area of study was the community of Matamoros, in the Patuca National Park. Having become a participatory member of the community, Moreno became endeared with it. Aside from his duties on the Matamoros Model Farm, giving workshops and helping to plant individual sustainable agricultural plots on different farmers' lands, he also attended local religious services and even started a literacy program. The Patuca Foundation and the Olancho Ecological Group sponsored Moreno's thesis as part of their scientific research program inside the Patuca National Park. The Foundation and Moreno's thesis advisor Ruben Sinclair have expressed satisfaction with his show of dedication and hard work. Sinclair is an assistant director at ENA with a specialty in field extension work. They were invited to the workshop in Catacamas in September during a closing ceremony/workshop in Matamoros when Moreno completed his field work. The program that day included participatory lectures on the Mesoamerican Biological Corridor, the legal status of the Patuca National Park, sustainable agriculture, questions and answers concerning the Patuca II Hydroelectric Project, a brief summary of Mauricio's work and the taking of a final socio-economic survey. The results of the survey will be compared to those taken when he first arrived in the area. A group of Moreno’s sponsors and other guests -- university biology and environmental engineering students -- also traveled to the area to participate. During the September meeting in Matamoros, many of the local inhabitants expressed their concerns over the legalization of the Patuca National Park, since they fear that their untitled lands will be taken away from them, forcing them to search for a new home once more. Many are recent (10 to 15 years) colonists in the area, having immigrated from the south or Choluteca due to desertification of that zone. Their worries are justified, largely because their life style is a precarious and dangerous one. While basic food and shelter needs are meagerly provided for, transportation, health care and education are virtually non-existent. Just getting to Catacamas takes a day and a half of canoeing, walking/burro riding and usually hitching or paying for a ride in the back of someone's pickup truck. If they are lucky and arrive at the bus stop on time, they might catch the baronesa for a rocky eight-hour ride into town. Also, the Cuyamel River, their main mode of transportation, like many other rivers in Honduras, is drying up as a consequence of deforestation, in this case, upriver of Matamoros and the boundaries of the Patuca National Park. This situation isolates them even more. For more information on the Patuca Foundation, visit the organizations website at: http://www.geocities.com/rainforest/canopy/7525 |
Obdulio Rodriguez, an
extension agent hired by the Patuca Foundation and the Olancho Ecological Group, gives a
lecture on sustainable agricultural methods to campesinos living near Matamoros. (Photo by
Maria Fiallos.)
