Sustainable Agricultural Techniques

A major economic, environmental and human problem worldwide relates to the millions of marginally productive small farms in environmentally fragile areas. The regions where EPIC is working in Honduras, Guatemala, and Mexico are densely populated with this type of small farm. EPIC considers the farming practices used on these small farms to be of great significance. In Central America and in many developing countries around the world, these small farms produce most of the local food and they provide employment for much of the population. Often the regions of small hillside agriculture in poor countries represent environmental disasters waiting to happen. Erosion of hillside fields and the leeching of nutrients are causing the land to become unproductive. Then increased deforestation to acquire more farmland in order for families to produce enough food exacerbates the erosion of the steep terrain. This erosion causes nearby streams and rivers to silt up.

With our program partners, EPIC has developed successful sustainable agricultural practices specifically for the problems confronted by farmers with small hillside farms. (See Keys to Success below) Cost effective farmer-to-farmer teaching techniques encourages the spread of these practices. Program leaders are also innovators, experimenting and testing to develop ever more effective soil and water management practices.

Corn yield improvement with enhanced agricultural techniques

A farmer compares ears of corn from fields with and without the new sustainable practices.

Participants in EPIC's sustainable agriculture programs usually double their corn and bean yields in the first year of implementing new practices. This dramatic increase is largely the result of water retention practices that also increase the water holding capacity of the soil. By employing organic methods to build soil fertility, harvests of basic food crops triple by the second or third year, while money spent buying chemical fertilizer and pesticides is reduced.

EPIC's programs of sustainable organic agriculture have motivated approximately 2000 farmers in Guatemala and Honduras to practice more sustainable farming by teaching them a group of new agricultural practices specifically adapted for hillside farms Seen in a larger world context, EPIC's success in doubling and tripling yields, while reducing the costs of production, could provide hope for millions of farmers worldwide who also work marginally productive small farms in environmentally fragile areas.