Description
Tucked into the foothills of the Maya Mountains, two miles up river
from the village of San Pedro Columbia in southern Belize, Maya
Mountain Research Farm is a registered non-governmental organization
and working demonstration farm that promotes sustainable agriculture,
appropriate technology and food security using permaculture principles
and applied biodiversity. Founded in 1988, Maya Mountain Research Farm
is one of the oldest ongoing permaculture projects in Central America.
We cultivate hundreds of species at MMRF in our established agro-
forestry system, a lush, productive tropical food forest. We are
building and fine-tuning an agro-ecological system that conserves
natural resources, and supports the surrounding ecosystem in providing
valuable ecological services such as carbon sequestration, soil and
water retention, and the creation of wildlife habitat.
MMRF functions as a genetic seed bank for indigenous species and a
buffer zone to the adjacent Columbia River Forest Reserve. All of our
buildings are powered by renewable energy, and our water is pumped from
a spring using photovoltaic panels. We also work with local
communities installing village level photovoltaic pumps.
We host interns, students, groups and volunteers, work with local
NGO/CBO’s, provide training in renewable energy and host an annual
Permaculture Design Course. We managed the Belizean Maya Ethnobotanical
Research Project for University of Florida.
MMRF is a research and training center committed to promoting applied
biological diversity as a means of ensuring food security, and
replicating ecological services of primary forest in complex
agroforestry systems.