Restoring the Soil - Canadian Foodgrains Bank

Green Manure/Cover Crop Systems6336. Honduras. Wild sunflower is a phosphorusaccumulator, so it can be especially important asa green manure in areas where phosphorus is thelimiting factor in crop production.S20. Maize/wild sunflower-1. Farmersaround Sabana Grande in central Hondurassometimes broadcast wild sunflower(Tithonia diversifolia) seeds into their fieldsafter the maize harvest in November/December (Photo 36). It grows throughoutthe dry season, and provides a goodsource of fertility for the following year’scrops. Probably a hundred farmers, atmost, use this recently developed system.S21. Maize/wild sunflower-2. Farmers inwestern Honduras sometimes plant thewild sunflower as a contour hedgerow,cutting and spreading the branches acrossthe field before planting each year in orderto fertilize the field. Again, this is anothersystem recently developed by innovativefarmers. It is probably only used by ahundred farmers or so.37. Honduras. Cowpeas were traditionallyintercropped with maize in much of El Salvador andthe Pacific coasts of Guatemala, Honduras andNicaragua. Now, because of the buying up of landby large-scale farmers and the active promotion ofmonocropping by government extension services,the practice is used by perhaps only 10% of thefarmers it once served.S22. Maize/cowpea-1. Cowpea (Vignaunguiculata) varieties, locally known as“alacin” and “pochote,” are intercroppedwith maize in much of southern Honduras(Photo 37). They are usually planted atthe same time and within the maize rowto facilitate weeding. Probably somewherebetween 5,000 and 10,000 farmers usethis traditional system. Several thousandfarmers in El Salvador and an equalnumber in northern Nicaragua continue to use the same system, as do thousandsof farmers on the south coast of Guatemala, where cowpeas are called “frijol rienda”or “frijol de tierra.” In Panama, tens of thousands of farmers use virtually the sametraditional system.S23. Maize/lablab bean-1. Farmers in the village of Pacayas, near Guinope, intercroplablab beans (Dolichos lablab) with their maize, planting both of them at the sametime in May/June when the rains start, at a rate of two to four seeds per square metre(Photo 27). In this case, farmers are motivated in large part because the organic matterfrom the lablab controls the nematodes that previously did tremendous damageto the irrigated garlic produced during the dry season (December to April). Probablyabout 50 farmers use this system, which was recently developed by farmers. A similartraditional system of lablab intercropped with maize is used in northern Peru (notablybetween Cajamarca and San Ignacio), where the lablab beans are eaten as green peas.In this case, tens of thousands of farmers use the system.