Agricultural/Sylvan Experimental Station Project
The project began as a simple test for plant viability for the resort in 2004. This area today also functions as an experimental station where different environmentally friendly techniques of low cost farming and forestry can be evaluated as an alternative source of food and income for the Ngobe Indians of Salt Creek. Optimum conditions for the plantings were established by experimental plantings. Salt, sun, and wind tolerance, pests, watering, and ground elevation were the major inhibiting growth and survival factors.
This station is adjacent to the Salt Creek Village of Isla Bastimentos, which is inhabited by approximately 400 Ngobe. This site was formerly a cow pasture adjacent to a beach, which we cleared of invasive plant species and re-planted with both native and foreign vegetables and fruits and native trees.
Many of the Ngobe have similar properties, which they do not cultivate. This is primarily due to tradition and a lack of practical experience with some food plants. The station utilized techniques where no purchased or synthetic fertilizer or pesticide was employed. The garden and tree areas could be considered "Organic" farms, although that was not the original intent. Typically organic and environmentally friendly techniques are one and the same.
We now have successful plantings of passion fruit, corn, watermelons, squash, pumpkins, tomatoes, celery, sage, lemon grass, black pepper, hot peppers, sweet peppers, chocolate, sugar cane, and coffee. Plus indigenous plants such as wondoo, yucca, papaya, bananas, plantains, and daichin. We discovered and now use common plants from our garden to create liquid applications, which eliminate predation by insects on all of our plantings. The most common source is crushed leaves of the common Noni plant Morinda Citrifolia mixed with water and applied by a spray bottle.
Regular applications of noni spray forced our worst crop pest, the leaf-cutter ant (Atta sp.), to actually leave the property. They had been quite common before this technique was employed. Our fertilizer source is nearly cost free and all natural. Manure from chickens raised on-site was collected and applied near plants. Presently portable chicken cages are being made. These will be moved on a rotation basis to each planting location. Thus allowing the chickens to feed themselves and reduce insect pests, while fertilizing the area. The chickens are laying eggs and provide a double food source as well. Through these techniques we have virtually eliminated all the cost and environmental damage of typical farming from commonly used pesticides and fertilizers.
We additionally planted among these crops over two hundred native trees. The planted species were selected as those most commonly harvested by the locals for lumber. The plantings have been monitored and are doing very well. ANAM visited the site and listed it as an "enrichment" program and not a "reforestation" program by their criteria.
An unexpected pest issue we encountered with our young fruit bearing plants was nocturnal attacks by blue land crabs Cardisoma guanhumi. They would cut-off the high-nutrient tops of young plantings and thus kill the plant. We discovered by accident a simple solution to this problem and now have large fruit bearing papaya trees on the site.
Originally, we approached the Ngobe Indians and invited them to learn from the station and to share their agricultural knowledge with us. This was not successful because they perceived this as work and wished to be paid for their time. So we changed our strategy and hired a group of Ngobe to become our gardeners and to work directly with a plant specialist from SBT.
Today, all of our gardeners are Ngobe Indians we trained. They have developed gardening and forestry skills, which they now share with other Ngobe in their village. They are also free to bring other Ngobe to the station to share information and to show practical applications. The Ngobe and other persons come to the site and are freely given information and technical assistance on how to do what we have done.