In 1995 the first practices in successional agroforestry, advised by Ernst Götsch, were started in the Alto Beni region. ECOTOP welcomed these impetuses and turned this approach into its priority area of agroforestry work, both regionally and internationally. Today producers in the Alto Beni region have multiple experiences using this approach and there is a diversity of plantations of different ages and complexity.
ECOTOP develops methods and strategies to facilitate the understanding of the principles of life for agroforestry production and the respective application at the small farmer level and advises producers in different continents.
The team of facilitators has extensive practical experience in facilitating processes and in the implementation and management of dynamic agroforestry systems oriented towards the principles of syntropic agroforestry in different eco-regions of the world.
Arrival in La Paz Saturday, June 8, 2019 Trip to Alto Beni Sunday, June 9, 2019 Return to La Paz Thursday, June 20, 2019
Friday, June 21, 2019 optional: Visit of the facilities of the Central de Cooperativas El CEIBO Ltda factory in El Alto – La Paz and return.
Place: Sapecho and Sara Ana in Alto Beni-Bolivia
Language: Spanish and English
Cost: 1850.- USD
Includes: accommodation in La Paz from June 8 to 9, 2019, travel to Alto Beni, accommodation, food, local transportation, work materials, return to La Paz and accommodation in La Paz from June 20 to 21, 2019.
Approximately 10 hours a day of work Instructors:
Dr. Joachim Milz Tec. Walter Yana
The basis for organic and syntropic agriculture is the understanding and comprehension of the interrelationships in a given ecosystem. Each ecosystem has its own dynamic that is expressed differently in each region but that has in common the principles of the dynamics of the natural succession of the species, both in time and space
The starting point to create an agroecosystem is therefore the original ecosystem of the place itself, which should serve as a guide. Many times, we can still find niches or remains of these ecosystems, and we try to replicate them and optimize them according to our main crop.
To implement the principles of sustainable production, it is fundamental to be based on the principles of life. There are no universal formulas and much less technological packages for this type of agriculture. We need a change in attitude, a change of paradigm, and we have to develop other senses beyond our rationality to find again the spirit of an agriculture that is the basis of the welfare of humanity and of the planet itself.
The long experiences with Dynamic Agroforestry Systems in the Alto Beni region in Bolivia, Central America, Asia and West Africa with a wide range of systems established by farmers and experimental plots with crops of economic interest shows the feasibility of this approach. The concepts are reconstructed in practice in a participatory way and then replicated at the individual level in the plots of each of the participants. Therefore, the methodological approach is considered a dynamic and eminently practical process, and not a linear process. One of the fundamental methodological principles of this process is the practice developed from the understanding of the processes that govern nature.
The course will focus on dynamic agroforestry within a holistic framework with systemic thinking. Holistic thinking considers that everything is interconnected and interrelated. The whole is more than the sum of its parts. If we take this approach in consideration, we understand phenomena like diseases and pests in our crops as mechanisms of system regulation. In this way we can develop background solutions instead of fighting symptoms.
Considering that any change starts from a change of oneself, experiential techniques will be developed that allow to relate with oneself and with one’s environment. The starting point is a diagnosis of the current productive situation with a systemic approach. It focuses on both food production and the production of “cash crops” and cocoa or other perennial crops in particular. There will also be a look back to what refers to the production of cocoa worldwide and analyze the productive situation of countries such as Ivory Coast, Ghana, Indonesia and Brazil.
Based on this analysis, the principles of dynamic agroforestry (syntropic agroforestry) are being built and applied technically in different contexts, from the installation of a new plot without burning for annual crops to management practices such as pruning, stratification, selective weeding and synchronization. The stay on the international research center Sara Ana for comparison of cocoa production systems allows us to compare and deepen the concepts of different production approaches from a scientific perspective and analyze the results until now.
Exchanges with successful cocoa farmers in the region who have systematically developed selections of own cocoa cultivars adapted to their microregion complement the program.
Finally, experiences and work methods regarding facilitate change processes will be exchanged with producer families in order to break the assistance approach of “technology transfer”.
And as one “is” what one eats, we will also dedicate a moment to the preparation of a menu with products from our systems.
