WHY IT IS IMPORTANT:

The regions where EPIC works, like Honduras, Guatemala, and Mexico, are densely populated with marginally productive small farms. This type of farms are in environmentally fragile areas and are a major economic, environmental and human problem worldwide. 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. 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.