Restoring the Soil - Canadian Foodgrains Bank

Green Manure/Cover Crop Systems6133. Guatemala. For centuries, choreque was intercroppedwith maize. This photo, taken at the end ofthe dry season, shows that only the choreque anda few trees and bushes have remained green.31. Honduras. Mucuna in a maize field after themaize harvest. Most farmers in Honduras whointercrop a gm/cc with their maize no longer usemucuna because there is too much danger that itwill smother the maize. Farmers prefer to use theless aggressive jackbean, or something that ismore useful, such as lablab beans.32. Honduras. The maize/mucuna-4 system asused in Honduras34. Guatemala. We failed to spread choreque toother areas of Central America because it has avery narrow ecological niche. The climate mustbe cold, but the plant will not withstand frosts.Furthermore, the runner bean and sweet clovercan do what the choreque does, with a number ofimportant additional advantages.35. Honduras. In this field of second-season maize, themaize is tall enough to have needed a second weeding.Nevertheless, because the owner of this field is using themaize/mucuna-6 system, the field was not weeded. Thisis one very clear example, among many, of the fact thatthe oft-stated belief that eco-agricultural practices alwaysrequire additional work is not correct.