Agroecology and Tropical Reforestation in Nicaragua

Before the aggressive mono-culture cotton industry dominated Nicaragua’s Pacific Basin from the 1950s-late 1970s, the region was one of the most biological diverse and densely forested of any in Latin America. With the onset of this industry, the region experienced a depletion of its natural resources, contamination of its soils and water table and the damage to human health and the natural environment as a result of prolonged pesticide and herbicide use. Large businesses began monopolizing the agriculture industry, making it more difficult for small, independent farmers to support themselves. It also began the process of massive displacement and rural migration as people began escaping the hopelessness of the countryside in search of a better future in the surrounding towns and cities. Crippled by a brutal war, natural disasters, the exploitation of its natural resources for foreign profit and a long session of corrupt political administrations, Nicaragua has become one of the poorest of the Western hemisphere, second only to Haiti.
During the 1990s, environmental protection and conservation organizations began focusing on the case of the displaced small farmer and their reintegration as being fundamental to environmental and economic recovery. Such institutions and practitioners began promoting a new paradigm of development, one involving social, economic and environmental sustainability. Agro-Ecology was one of these formative methodologies that took root in Nicaragua, most specifically from one of the first departments of its kind in the University of Nicaragua’s Leon branch, in the heart of the region most devastated by the conventional agro-industry: the Pacific Basin. This approach focuses on natural, organic practices over chemical use and pesticides. There is an emphasis on the diversification of crops, the conversation of soil and water and natural composting.
By utilizing the techniques supported by a sustainable agriculture approach, young participants in our program will obtain a comprehensive environmental education and field practice. Such preparation will put them in a position to further amplify sustainable practices, benefit from financial opportunities presented and improve their quality of life and that of their community members.