Thursday, June 3, 2010

AgroForestery Sostenible Farm

Our  Taino  Land  is  implementing  agroforestery model in an  attempt to  conserve the  natural and  cultural  heritage  of our  region.  Ours  is  a  school-community program  with a strong indigenous  base  that  includes: indigenous  farming  methods  (conuco  agrosystem), hillside  conservation  methods, integrated  pest  management, green composting, and  other  strategies  that  will  increase  the  natural-organic fertility  of  our  farms, and contribute  to a  more  homeostatic or  internal ecoagro equilibrium. We  need  your  support to  convert  more  small  scale  farms  into viable  sustainable agro-organic ventures.   To make  contributions  please visit  our  donations  site  at: http://donate2ourcause.blogspot.com/.
 
 
Farmers have practiced agroforestry for years. Agroforestry focuses on the wide range of working trees grown on farms and in rural landscapes. Among these are fertilizer trees for land regeneration, soil health and food security; fruit trees for nutrition; fodder trees that improve smallholder livestock production; timber and fuel wood trees for shelter and energy; medicinal trees to combat disease; and trees that produce gums, resins or latex products.  Many of these trees are multipurpose, providing a range of benefits.

 Proven impacts of agroforestry 

  • Reducing poverty through increased production of agroforestry products for home consumption and sale.
  • Contributing to food security by restoring farm soil fertility for food crops and production of fruits, nuts and edible oils.
  • Ensuring, through negotiation support, a fairer deal for women farmers and other less-advantaged rural residents whose rights to land are insecure.
  • Reducing deforestation and pressure on woodlands by providing fuel wood grown on farms.
  • Increasing diversity of on-farm tree crops and tree cover to buffer farmers against the effects of global climate change.
  • Improving nutrition to lessen the impacts of hunger and chronic illness associated with HIV/AIDS.
  • Augmenting accessibility to medicinal trees, the main source of medication for 80% of Africa's population.




Sustainable agriculture uses ecological principles to farm, hence the prefex agro- to farm and ecology- the science of the relationship between organisms and their environment. It has been defined as follows: “the term sustainable agriculture means an integrated system of plant and animal production practices having a site-specific application that will, over the long term.


Modern-day  Jibaro Cultivating Yuca -  Sacred  Taino  
Plant. Jíbaro" referers to rustic life or lifestyle, 
and that the term is common in the island.