La Semilla del Progreso – November 2015

Honduras was already the poorest county in Central America, and this year’s drought has caused great suffering. La Semilla had been preparing farmers for weather extremes by emphasizing a resilient food production. Each family is advised to plant food crops that like lots of water and crops that do well with little. Still, when the rains stopped, even La Semilla’s farmers lost crops – although fewer. La Semilla teaches multiple strategies to manage water, conserve and enrich soil, and control pests. In 10 villages where La Semilla worked this year, farmers with hillside farms implemented these water conservation practices to hold rain water and allow it to sink in slowly:

2,025 meters of contour ditches dug on hillsides to hold rainfall and prevent erosion
592 meters of zanjas productives were dug. These are very large contour ditches filled with rich organic material and planted with food crops
4,756 meters of special grasses were planted on the contour to form filter barriers

28,592 trees were planted:
2,840 hardwoods for lumber
24,805 coffee trees planted in contour rows, plus the trees planted to provide shade
847 fruit trees

In addition to these results documented in the 10 villages surveyed, La Semilla has started work in a new area
where they were first invited by the local Catholic priest. After seeing La Semilla’s initial work, the 3 municipal governments of this area started providing meeting space for classes and food and transportation for participants
in La Semilla’s 3-day agricultural courses which stress resilient, sustainable food production.