Handbook of Vanilla Science and Technology

The Maya Mountain Research Farm (MMRF), a registered non-governmental organization (NGO), is a training center and demonstration farm located in rural Toledo District. MMRF promotes sustainable agriculture and food security, with an emphasis on diversity and integration of the food-producing process into a natural ecological system:

MMRF’s mission statement: To research and demonstrate - within an ecosystem context -locally appropriate alternative technologies and sustainable agricultural techniques that promote and ensure food security, economic security, and environmental conservation, and to transfer this information to people in Toledo District and the rest of Belize and to other interested persons.

MMRF’s premise is that truly sustainable agriculture must not only ensure the rendering of ecological services and food security, but also must be economically attractive to the farmers, while allowing them to retain their cultural and family roles. To fulfill this objective, MMRF looked into high value crops that could be integrated into agro-ecological systems, and selected vanilla as the best candidate.

4.1.3 Agro-ecological systems

An agro-ecological system is an agricultural system, the structure of which replicates the diversity, resilience, and interconnectivity of the ecosystem that would naturally be present in that place. Species composition is comprised of:

IPrimary species: plants useful to the agriculturalist, and

IISecondary species: plants that support those plants, which are useful to the agriculturalist.

It is important to emphasize that within an agro-ecological system, nearly all species will fulfill multiple functions.

MMRF is located on benthic and limestone soils, at an elevation of 100 to 430 feet, in the foothills of the Maya Mountains, in the humid semi-tropics. Tall rainforest is the natural ecosystem in this locale. Using the descriptors I and II, plants appropriate for, and used in, MMRF’s agro-ecological system are:

I Primary species

• Timber species: cedar (Cedrella odorata), mahogany (Swietenia macrophylla), ramon nut (Brosimum alicastrum), samwood (Cordia Alliadore);

• Fruit species: anona (Anona muricata), bananas (Musa spp.), breadfruit (Artocarpus alitilis), breadnut (Artocarpus camansi), cacao (Theobroma cacao), cashew (Ana-cardium occidentale), guava (Psidium guajava), pineapple (Ananas comosus), plantains (Musa paradisiacal), tamarind (Tamarindus indica);

• Semi-cultivated foods: jippy jappa palm (Carludovica palmate), pacaya palm (Chamaedorea tepejilote), ramon nut (Brosimum alicastrum);

• Spices: allspice (Pimenta doica), black pepper (Piper nigrum), ginger (Zingiber officinale), hot pepper (Capsicum spp.), nutmeg (Myristica spp.), turmeric (Curcurma longa);

• Leafy greens: chaya (Cnidoscolus chayamansa), collaloo (Amaranth spp.)

• Ground foods: cassava (Manihot esculenta), dasheen (Xanthosoma spp.), yam (Dioscorea spp.)

• Legumes: bri-bri (Inga spp.), peanuts (Arachis hypogaea), pigeon pea (Cajanus cajan)

• Medicinal plants: jack-ass bitters (Neurolaena lobata), polly redhead (Hamelia coccinea), sorosi (Anurophorus sorosi)

II Secondary species

• Plants that attract pollinators: Bauhinia spp., bukut (Cassia grandis), flamboyant tree (Senna magnifolia), hibiscus (Hibiscus rosa-sinensis), Pride of Barbados (Caesal-pinia pulcherrima)

• Plants that give shade: the above listed timber species, chicle (Manilkara zapota), Spondias spp.

• Plants whose deep taproots suck nutrients out of the sub-soil and deposit them as leaf litter: Erythrina spp.

• Plants that support trellising vines: madre de cacao (Glyricidia sepium);

• Plants that supply nutrients such as nitrogen: Arachis pintoi, bukut (Cassia grandis), guanacaste (Enterolobium cyclocarpum);

• Plants that protect against erosion: lemongrass (Cymbopogon citrates) and vetiver (Chrysopogon zizanioides), which can be planted in broad terraces across hillsides; maidenhair ferns and begonias that stabilize steep riverbanks; and Ficus trees whose roots secure seasonally submerged river edges.