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:: AIR's Main Activities: farmer training

Educating the community groups about the importance of conserving the environment and the impact that deforestation has on the land, the ecology, water sources and air quality is an integral part of AIR's projects. These educational programs have already had a significant impact on individuals' attitudes and behavior in terms of deforesting and conserving their lands.

In addition to education for school children, AIR staff have taken on the task of teaching Sustainable Farminng methods to villagers where AIR has established tree nurseries. This is a relatively new aspect of AIR's work because it became clear that where farm land is extremely scarce, reforestation is only going to happen in combination with planting food crops.

AIR has produced simple manuals for the farmers who participate in a three-year Sustainable Farming program. We are in the first year of teaching our second group of approximately 150 farmers. AIR staff teach "classes" in the farmers' own fields, demonstrating how to make safe, organic fertilizer; how to avoid using harmful chemical pesticides; how to terrace fields and rotate crops, preventing soil erosion; and how to interplant various crops and trees in one field that support each other (polyculture). In many cases, farmers are relearning methods forgotten from Maya ancestral practices.

Farmers often feel pressure to grow coffee with heavy use of chemicals-- instead of food crops--because it seems more profitable in the short-run. But this is highly destructive for the future land use. AIR is now in the process of gathering data on the productivity of sustainable farming (which still includes growing shade coffee and food crops). This data will help us persuade many more farmers to adopt the sustainable methods.

Related Links: 
Reforestation Activities
Building Fuel-Efficient Stoves
Educational Activities