Handbook of Vanilla Science and Technology

In Belize, hand-cultivated corn is grown in the following way: An area is cleared by machete and everything is chopped to ground level and left to rot where it falls. With a sharp pointed planting stick, a hole of 6 to 8 inches is made in the ground. The planting stick is gently wriggled out of the hole, so the sides of the hole remain intact. Five or six corn seeds are dropped in the hole, and the hole is left uncovered. These seed holes are spaced evenly in a diamond pattern with 5 to 6 feet between holes (corn plants). While the corn is always the dominant crop, sometimes other plants will be intercropped with the corn. The most common interplant is local pumpkin, a cucurbit that dries and stores well. Collaloo, a leafy amaranth grown for its edible leaves, is another common interplant, as are tomatoes. Volunteer wild edible greens, tomatillos, and medicinal herbs also frequently pop up in the cornfield. These are noticed and tended. The cornfield is “cleaned” again 6 to 8 weeks after planting, by machete chopping all weeds to the ground. Further tending of the corn is unnecessary until harvest time (6 months after sowing), but if intercrops are used, these may receive additional attention. It is in this context that the Sanchezes established their trial vanilla plantation.

At the same time as planting the cornfield, they put sticks of madre de cacao (Glyricidia sepium), a leguminous tree, in the ground to serve as tutors for the vanilla. The vanilla cuttings were also put in the field at the same time. To create shade for the vanilla, little thatch teepees of palm leaf (the Sanchezes used coconut and cohune leaf) were tied to each madre de cacao stick over the vanilla (Figure 4.2). These teepees are durable enough to last through the first corn harvest and well into the second cornfield, which is planted on the same site immediately subsequent to the first harvest. By the time the second cornfield is ready for harvest, the thatch teepees are rotted down, and the madre de cacao sticks have thrown enough branches to shade the vanilla. A third cornfield can be planted in the same spot, but by the third harvest, the madre de cacao and vanilla will have grown sufficiently to dominate the space, and it is unlikely that a fourth cornfield will be feasible (Figure 4.3). The leaf detritus from the corn plants is heaped at the base of the vanilla vines.

Fig. 4.2 Thatch teepee shading newly planted vanilla vine.

Fig. 4.3 Mr and Ms Sanchez in corn/vanilla field where vanilla and madre de cacao tutors are beginning to dominate the space.

By intercropping the vanilla with corn, the labor necessary to tend the fledgling vanilla plantation is greatly reduced, as it is a by-product of maintaining the cornfield. Also of note is that the land itself is productive for the interim years between planting and harvest. While the Toledo District is not a land-poor region, this is a serious consideration in other regions where corn is a staple crop.

4.1.8 Wild/relic vanilla stands in Toledo District

The area within the Toledo District currently identified as having the highest density of vanilla plants, and which also hosts the greatest species diversity within the genus, is in the lands surrounding Barranco Village, and in the nearby Sarstoon and Temash National Park (STNP). In some places, 3 or more species exist within 100 yards of one another. The proximity and diversity of the vanilla present in these locales is to such an extent that we must logically question if the plants are not relic cultigens from historical cultivation. The Sarstoon and Temash rivers are located well within what had been Manchae Chol territory and cacao and vanilla were once intensively cultivated in the areas surrounding these rivers (Caso Barrera and Fernandez, 2006).