ECHO is excited to share with you that we are re-engaging with our Central America and Caribbean (CAC) partners and network members through the establishment of a Regional Impact Center (RIC). We have heard the needs in the region and are focusing our efforts on being able to fully support a RIC located in CAC. This RIC will be dedicated to developing contextualized sustainable options for smallholders. This issue of EDN features a technique, a CAC partner system, and a crop relevant specifically to the CAC region and with global potential as well!
Echoes from our Network: SIFAT Training and Inga Alley Cropping
From ECHO's Seed Banks: Grain Amaranth
Books, Websites, and Other Resources: Resilient Agriculture Toolkit
Articles
Nixtamalization
Robert Walle
Nixtamalization is a centuries-old technique for enhancing the nutritional value and digestibility of maize (Zea mays), and to a lesser extent, sorghum (Sorghum bicolor) and other grains. It involves boiling and soaking the grain in an alkaline solution before washing and then grinding it to make dough for tortillas and other products. This article will introduce the history and benefits of nixtamalization, explain the process, and discuss related options.
Inga Alley Cropping
Michael Hands and Lorraine Potter
This agroforestry system uses Inga spp., nitrogen-fixing trees, to regenerate the steepest and most degraded land. This system sequesters and avoids emitting tons of carbon while transforming the lives of subsistence farming families. The project, now in year thirteen, is working at the landscape-scale in northern Honduras, in the river catchments of the Cuero and Cangrejal that form the Western and Eastern boundaries of the Pico Bonito National Park.
Grain Amaranth
Robert Walle
CHO’s seedbank variety, Amaranthus cruentus ‘PI606767’, is a nutritious grain amaranth with drought resistance, low fertility requirements, and resistance to plant diseases and pests which make this Amaranth variety an ideal crop for climate adaptation.