Description
Tropical ecologist Mike Hands has spent 35 years in the field looking for an alternative to the slash and burn method used by many peasant farmers living in tropical forests to improve soil fertility and gain a year or two of crops. He looked for successful adaptations some farmers in Central America and in Africa had developed, and eventually found a tree, a particular species of the Inga called the Guana, that was being used by farmers in Costa Rica to shade their coffee. In 2012 he began the Land for Life program that concentrated on saturating two river valleys in Honduras with an alley cropping technique using the Inga tree that has improved soil fertility, provided food security—even through drought and hurricane—and eliminated the need to further destroy tropical forests.
Distinguished professor Rattan Lal will be talking with Mike Hands about the program’s success and promise.
This talk is part of the Life Saves the Planet lecture series. More info: https://bio4climate.org/