Letters From Belize -- Summer 2007

A team of students and faculty from Bumpers College helped start a large garden to provide food for St. Matthew's Elementary School in Belize. The project is part of a larger project involving students and faculty from several colleges. The Bumpers College team left on May 20 for a month in Belize. Letters from the faculty sponsors, Dr. Nilda Burgos and Dr. Jennie Popp, and students are posted with the most recent at the top.

See Arkansas Democrat-Gazette article from July 8, 2007, on the project.

Bumpers College students are working on a school garden project in Belize this summer. Front row from left, Mioko Tamura of Saitama, Japan; Laura Sossamon of Ozark; and Evy Rice of Daingerfield, Texas. Back row from left, Heather Markway of Cherokee Village; Kerry Boling of Gravette; Lauren Webb of Royal; Misti Clark of Prairie Grove; and Ashley Jones of Lincoln.

June 19, 2007
Dr. Jennie Popp
Associate Professor
Department of Agricultural Economics and Agribusiness

Dr. Greg Weidemann
Dean
Bumpers College of Agricultural, Food and Life Sciences
University of Arkansas
Fayetteville, AR 72701

Dear Dr. Weidemann,

It is with great pleasure that I report on the second half of the Belize project experience. I was with the students from May 31 until the end of the project, June 15.  Students who participated in the agricultural project include Kerri Boling (AEAB), Misti Clark (AEAB), Heather Markway (CSES), Ashley Jones (AEAB), Evreda Rice (CSES), Laura Sossamon (AEAB), Mioko Tamura (CSES) and Lauren Webb (FDSC). 

The students have done a tremendous job!  Under the supervision of Dr. Burgos they cleared the land, built a fence around the garden, prepared the beds and started two compost areas. They also put together a short how-to manual for the teachers at the school regarding pepper production and marketing. I arrived May 31. We had the weekend to transition. Dr. Burgos returned home June 4.

The last two weeks of the project were as busy as the first.  With the assistance of the Stan Creek Agriculture Office, we put in an irrigation and water catchment system.  The system will collect rainwater from the roof of the school and store it in a 400-gallon tank for use in the garden.  The school has access to a water line for irrigation purposes should the tank run dry. The rainy season began on June 1. Two days after we installed the tank, it was completely full.

The students also taught four science classes for standards three through five (5th through 7th grades). These sessions covered pepper production, harvest and marketing, water management, transplanting and the future of the school garden.  The students were quite enthused. The teachers were so impressed that the materials presented by our students were integrated into the comprehensive science examinations that took place the day we left Belize. The integration of agricultural topics into the science class, the development of the garden and our collaboration with the local Agriculture Office have helped reintroduce agriculture into the school curriculum. Three school staff members have agreed to continue to work with the Stan Creek Agriculture Office to provide further agricultural education opportunities for the students of St. Matthew’s.

As an additional project, our students did their part to facilitate trash collection in the area. Trash cans are a rare commodity in Dangriga, and even rarer at St. Matthew’s in Pomona. We were able to secure four free citrus drums from the CPBL – Citrus Products of Belize Limited – which our students painted with Belizean marine and animal life.  Students were drawn to these colorful cans and promised to make good use of them in the future. 

In addition to working at the school the students explored marketing avenues for the crops.  We met with Mrs. Marie Sharp, of Marie Sharp – a company in Belize offering hot pepper sauces, fruit jams and fruit juice concentrates (many of her products are available in stores throughout the Southeast and on-line from many retailers). Mrs. Sharp gave all of us a tour of her factory from where all of her products are produced. The students arranged for the sale of St. Matthew’s peppers to Marie Sharp, provided the peppers are of sufficient quality.  Having a local, reliable marketing outlet for the product will help ensure the financial sustainability of the garden in the future. Students also identified marketing options for future crops: cabbage, tomatoes, onions and sweet peppers.

The day we were all waiting for came on June 11th. That afternoon, UA students, St. Matthew’s faculty, PTA and members of the Pomona Women’s Group participated in the planting of the peppers. Roughly 250 peppers were planted that day.  Another 250 are scheduled to be planted June 26.  Mrs. Anne McCoon, St. Matthew’s Principal, has organized school staff, PTA and members of the Women’s Group to oversee the garden.  UA students developed a reward system (called Garden Bucks) that St. Matthew’s students can earn to assist in the garden.  St. Matthew’s is a school overseen by the Anglican Church in Belize.  Representatives of the church toured the garden and were so impressed that they have asked Mac Stephen (son of Dr. Fred Stephen) to write an article for their national newsletter. This article will also be shared with some of the churches in Northwest Arkansas.

Two unexpected but exciting opportunities have also arisen from this project. First, after an initial meeting with Dr. Burgos, the Ministry of Agriculture invited the students and I to participate in their national training seminar for agricultural agents that took place in Dangriga.  I spoke to the attendees about our project. There is great interest in using the St. Matthew’s garden project as a model for other schools around the nation. Dr. Burgos and I will follow up with the Ministry of Agriculture to provide guidance. Second, the Ecumenical Junior College (EJC) of Dangriga is also interested in further collaboration with UA.  We had the pleasure of assistance from six of their Environmental Science students (including the top student in the school) on the garden project. The Dean of the school and I talked extensively about developing a course for them that is structured similar to the UA course – classroom work followed by field experience.  Again, Dr. Burgos and I will follow up with the school this fall.

It is evident from this letter and from Dr. Burgos’s letter that our students worked incredibly hard while in Belize. However, there was still plenty of opportunity for fun. The students explored many areas of the country (caving in San Ignacio, scuba diving in Caye Cauker, snorkeling in  Placencia, dancing to Garifuna music in Dangriga and exploring Mayan ruins throughout the country) as well as neighboring countries (with visits to Honduras, Mexico and Guatemala).

On a final note while I mention here only the agricultural project, there were a handful of other projects which involved students from other colleges on campus. While each project was distinct from the others, the students shared ideas, materials and labor wherever possible. It was a wonderful experience for all 54 students involved.

I am very proud of our students and all they accomplished in four short weeks. While I am sure they are all happy to return to air conditioning and meal options that extend beyond chicken, rice and beans, I know they will all look back favorably upon their experiences in Belize.   I hope you will join me in congratulating these wonderful women for a job incredibly well done.

Sincerely,

Jennie Popp, Ph.D.
Associate Professor                                                                    

Dear Dean Weidemann:

It is with great pleasure that I report to you the progress that has been made on our CAFLS school garden project at St. Matthew's Elementary School, Pomona, Belize.  First, allow me to recap the student composition of this pioneering group.  The students who traveled to Belize for this project are: Kerri Boling, Misti Clark, Ashley Jones, Heather Markway, Evreda Rice, Laura Sossamon, Mioko Tamura, and Lauren Webb.  The faculty leaders are Jennie Popp and yours truly.  The students are spending one month there, while Jennie and I are spending two weeks each, with a few days overlap.  I have just returned from my two-week assignment and Jennie will stay with the students until the end of their term in Belize.

The garden area is about one-tenth of an acre and our first crop will be hot peppers.  This will be a cash crop with an identified buyer – Marie Sharp’s hot pepper sauce company.  The income is intended to help buy food items for the canteen and inputs for the next vegetable crops (cabbage, hot pepper, and onion).  The ground had been tilled twice and 105-foot beds were formed.  Vegetation and cut tree roots had been removed.  There was substantial amount of these because the site had been a perennial grassy area, bounded on two sides by huge trees and on one side by a citrus orchard.

We were able to establish a connection with the local Ministry of Agriculture Research Station for Stan Creek District.  This made possible the mechanical tillage and forming of planting beds.  There used to be no active link between the school and the local agriculture office because of the absence of even a seminal agriculture class at the school.  It is not part of their curriculum.  The established link with agriculture also made possible the delivery of rice hulls for mulching, free of charge.  It would have cost us about $75 USD for one load.

Other invaluable contribution by the local Ag personnel to our project so far includes assistance in pricing and procuring supplies for the irrigation system and the water catchment project.  The latter is a major expense and requires transportation of a 400-gallon tank and large pieces of hardwood for the tank platform.  The hardwood would have also cost us a lot of money if not for the assistance provided by the Ag personnel who has the right connections.  Rain water will be used to supplement ground water to irrigate the garden.  Procurement of supplies is a major deal as several are not available in Dangriga (the largest town in the district where we are staying), but had to be ordered from Belmopan or elsewhere.  One Ag personnel volunteered to help assemble the irrigation system (distribution line and drip lines) while another (a hot pepper specialist) volunteered to visit the site once a week to help monitor insect pests and diseases, once the crop is planted. 

The Citrus Processing Laboratory, which is located within two miles from the school, delivered one load of citrus peel compost (already ameliorated with lime) free of charge.  We had distributed the whole load throughout the garden area and incorporated it into the planting beds using the garden tiller that was purchased there using Dr. Popp’s fund.  (By the way, this material is heavy).  We have enlisted the help of a Peacework contract worker to put up a chain link fence to secure the garden area.  The beds are ready to be planted.  Unfortunately, the hot pepper transplants, which are being raised at the Central Farm near Belmopan, are delayed.  The seedlings had been ordered and paid for in advance.  Tillage of the land also was behind schedule (it was supposed to be done one week before we get there), but this setback in the development of transplants is very critical.  This is making us very nervous.  Jennie and the girls will pick it up this Friday as they have a scheduled meeting in Belmopan then. 

They hope to transplant the peppers next week before they leave.  Our original plan was to transplant the peppers before I return to Fayetteville.  Instead, I had to give them a crash demonstration on setting the plants, applying basal fertilizer, and sidedressing and an abbreviated lesson on applying pesticides.  It is inevitable that some insecticide and fungicide will be applied for peppers.  The crop calendar we obtained from the Agriculture office for hot peppers is very management intensive for insects and diseases.  We had solicited three St. Matthew's faculty volunteers to be closely involved in managing the garden.  I wish I had more time training them on pesticide application.  Jennie will conduct a review lesson when they recalibrate our sprayer using an appropriate nozzle.  (The nozzle is another story.) Herbicide application may be needed before transplanting as rain had started falling intermittently now, in small quantities, to signal the onset of rainy season.  I noticed weeds had started to emerge in the site.  A broadcast application of Roundup may be necessary.  We hope that the mulch would help keep the weeds down and reduce the time needed for the kids to hand weed the garden.  In the future, we hope to use other kinds of mulches for supplemental weed control so herbicide use and handweeding is minimized.  The intensive use of insecticide and fungicide in their system would not be sustainable as resistance can evolve quickly.  There is an opportunity to look at IPM approaches there in the future. 

As an aside, Dr. Paul McCleod indicated interest in working on insects in Belize.  If fact, we traveled back from Belize City to Fayetteville together.  He and his wife were in Belize at the same time that our group was.  I think he had already started the leg work on insect scouting there.  I shared with him our initial contacts in Belize.  Perhaps we can coordinate an IPM training there in the future, with the Ministry of Agriculture for insects, weeds, and diseases. 

Besides working in the garden and procuring supplies, our students had also put together a series of lectures for kids from standard 3 to 6.  Topics include composting and mulching, transplanting and plant care, among others.  In general, two lectures had been planned per week, to be conducted in the afternoon, during their science class.  We ended up with having three sections of kids to teach as the faculty asked to include younger kids in the lectures.  Thus, we have divided our group into three teaching teams.  Our students had come up with innovative ideas to actively engage the young kids in these topics.  As far as the sections that I had observed, and based on the lecture outlines that our students had developed, I am amazed at the maturity and skills that our undergraduates had demonstrated in this endeavor.  As part of the active learning activity, our students had assembled two composting units, which they had started to fill with organic waste during the composting lecture session.  The kids at school are supposed to continue filling up this compost pit and witness its transformation into organic fertilizer.

Besides the delayed transplanting, other projects left to do include the irrigation system, the water catchment, and hopefully, putting up durable trash cans for the whole school.  Trash management is one issue that our students think we could also help with, conceptually at least.

One day, after getting drenched by the first rain that came through Pomona, we had the good fortune of meeting someone up the ladder in the Ministry of Agriculture who happened to drop by the local Agriculture office in Stan Creek.  He wanted me to offer them some technical expertise, but since I was leaving, Jennie had followed up on a meeting with him in Belmopan.  He had proposed to set up a meeting with all the Agriculture Agents in Belmopan.

We had met with the PTA at school, upon special request.  We had decent attendance considering that it was scheduled at 1:00 p.m.  Of course, the majority of parents are working.  Two personnel from the Stan Creek Agriculture Office also attended.  This was a general briefing/inspirational meeting to encourage the parents to get involved with this project in the long term.  Our students did an excellent job of planning the flow of this meeting and took the initiative of preparing a brief information manual about the project and contact people, for distribution to interested parties and group leaders.

Six students from the Ecumenical Junior College (EJC) in Dangriga volunteered to help us in the garden.  Unfortunately, all of them are graduating so they will only be there for a short period of time.  Thus, in our meeting with the Dean, we discussed the possibility of involving first year junior students as well.  The Dean (Anthony Sabal) is pushing for creating a course (perhaps an elective) of three credit hours, tied with our project.  This way, their students can get credit for their involvement in the project other than community service hours.  The EJC students who helped us are brilliant kids, who had already satisfied their community service requirements, but just wanted to get involved, anyway.  We will work with a faculty at EJC who is charged with developing this course.  Dr. Popp will give us more update on this later, if she gets the chance to meet with the EJC faculty.

Our group is scheduled to meet with Marie Sharp tomorrow (June 7).  One of our students, Lauren Webb, has an extra assignment to do for an internship in this area, under the Food Science Department.  Besides looking at the processing plant, the group also hopes to tour the pepper production fields at Marie Sharp’s compound. 

There are several more follow-up meetings to set up for planning and coordination purposes.  The critical ones being with the St. Matthew's faculty, the Stan Creek Agriculture group, and the women’s group.  I think that management of the garden will depend on the leadership of St. Matthew's faculty in close collaboration with the Agriculture personnel.  Marketing the produce rests on the women’s group, some of whom are also members of the St. Matthew's PTA.  These remaining activities will be in Dr. Popp’s capable hands.

I would also like to mention that our alumni duo – Danis Copenhaver and Drew Cogbill -- have done an exemplary job from the beginning.  These two had demonstrated admirable astuteness in planning and organization of diverse activities and locations of more than 60 people.  They are invaluable assets and had afforded our CAFLS group much help.  Pomona is about 13 miles from Dangriga.  Although we did not request it, they had the foresight of arranging for one vehicle just for the CAFLS group – for us to use every day in going back and forth to Ponoma.  Looking at how the purchasing of supplies and materials came about, and with some initial troubles with equipment needing to be fixed or examined, this dedicated vehicle was heaven-sent.  They have also arranged for another vehicle to be shared by the other groups.

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