By Megan Lopez | Development Manager
Ya’axché has recently engaged the rural community of Aguacate in cacao agroforestry. This sustainable agricultural practice incorporates local livelihood development with reforestation, as cacao is a harvestable cash crop which requires between 30% to 60% overall shade.
Although cacao is very well suited for the climate conditions of southern Belize, it hasn’t been popular among farmers in Aguacate village until recently, when they were provided an opportunity to participate in a learning exchange with a local agricultural cooperative, Trio Farmers Cacao Growers (TFCG). Seeing this group’s productive cacao plots led to Aguacate farmers wanting to emulate such restorative and sustainable agricultural practices on their own farms.
Ya'axché's Agroforestry Extension Officers were able to deliver saplings in Aguacate the last week in September. The delivery totalled 375 fruit trees, 375 timber tress and 1,200 cacao saplings, all of which were grown in Ya'axché's nursery. The nearly 2,000 saplings seems like a lot, but in reality, they will help in kickstarting five (5) cacao-based agroforestry plots for farmers part of Aguacate's agricultural cooperative, Aguacate Conservation and Development Committee, or ACDC for short. We are looking forward to supporting these farmers pave the way for climate-smart farming and local land stewardship through cacao agroforestry!
Project reports on GlobalGiving are posted directly to globalgiving.org by Project Leaders as they are completed, generally every 3-4 months. To protect the integrity of these documents, GlobalGiving does not alter them; therefore you may find some language or formatting issues.
If you donate to this project or have donated to this project, you can receive an email when this project posts a report. You can also subscribe for reports without donating.
Support this important cause by creating a personalized fundraising page.
Start a Fundraiser
