In Rio Grande, Honduras, Indigenous Lenca women from AMIR plant diverse food forests to enhance farming, increase carbon capture, and ensure long-term survival.
In the heart of rural Intibucá, Honduras, in the Indigenous Lenca village of Rio Grande, a remarkable group of women is strengthening their community through collective action to plant trees for food. These women, part of the Association of Renewed Intibucá Women (AMIR), understand the urgent need to improve traditional farming, and as climate change brings droughts and floods, they are turning their limited land into resilient food forests and carbon sinks.
Honduras faces severe climate challenges like hurricanes, floods, and droughts, which devastate agriculture. Tree-planting initiatives often fail because they focus on timber trees that get cut down. However, fruit and nut trees like avocado, mango, and orange are preserved because they provide food. Planting diverse tree species increases carbon capture and ensures long-term survival.
Recognising that a one-size-fits-all approach causes failures in reforestation work, the project uses a participatory planning process. Each woman maps her land and plans her food forest with help from an agronomist. They choose from a variety of fruit trees, shrubs, and climbing plants tailored to their land’s needs. Everyone has a different goal in mind - some will plant a diversity of fruit trees, up to 20 species on a plot, some are more focused on protecting water sources with fast-growing species, and others with combat erosion on steep slopes by using deep-rooted species. But they all focus on three main areas: food production, water conservation, and erosion control.
The project sources trees from our nearby nurseries, using grafted varieties suited to the region’s conditions. Avocado trees, for instance, are fussy over soil conditions and varieties that thrive at lower altitudes will likely fail in the mountainous terrain of Intibucá. Hass avocados grafted to a local mico rootstock will be used in Intibucá, while in other projects in the lowland heat of Copán, the Antillano variety will grow better.
In the mountains of Intibucá, these women are proving that with determination and the right support, even the smallest plots of land can yield abundant harvests and profound hope for future generations. Your support helps these women turn small plots into abundant food forests, fostering hope and sustainability for future generations.
