EL CERCADO, San Juan. – I’m thinking of a song as the truck bounces up the unimaginably rocky road from the village of El Cercado to the Los Parmaritos agro-forestry plantation. It’s a song of long trips on bad roads to amazing natural spaces – the story of my Canadian childhood. It tells of a jeep climbing a mountain, its wheels spinning on the rough dirt road, discovering the hundred-year history of the family that cleared its slopes, tamed it, and lived off its fertile soil and abundant vegetation. The mountain happens to be on Cape Breton Island, but its story could be told of mountains all around the world that for centuries have supported life with their complex ecosystems.

Sometimes the mountains need help, though. After years of use and abuse by their human inhabitants, the backbones of the world begin to give out. Their slopes, stripped of trees, can’t hold the water that falls daily in the upper reaches and the natural process of erosion and weathering is magnified, with devastating consequences felt by communities hundreds of kilometers away when their rivers begin to fill up with sediment and dry out. The life-giving cycle of evaporation, condensation, precipitation and drainage is stalled, and agricultural production, growth, and an entire way of life are threatened.

The Artibonito River, which naturally divides the Dominican Republic and Haiti, is rapidly reaching a tipping point that, if crossed, could affect hundreds of thousands of lives on both sides of the border. A new project, a joint undertaking between the Dominican and Haitian governments and supported and funded by the Canadian International Development Foundation, aims to bring the river back from the precipice of disaster and improve the welfare of those who rely on it, a process that starts at its sources in the mountains of the Sierra de Neiba.

Osiris Hernandez, project director for Oxfam Quebec, one of the Canadian NGOs involved in overseeing the rehabilitation process, is engaged in some elaborate manipulation of the gearshift as we climb through cattle pastures to a gentle slope with a stunning view of the valley. To the untrained eye, the field to our left looks like a jumble of green hemmed with trees, but this small patch of cultivated land is actually a model for the entire 10 million dollar project, he explains.

Started ten years ago by the Municipal Association for the Development of the Macasías River Watershed (AROMA), this fully operational plantation centered around the Los Parmaritos stream, a tributary of the Macasías which eventually flows into the Artibonito, is an example of what is possible when agriculture is designed with the health of the river in mind. A healthy river means healthy agriculture, and for 140 families in El Cercado who benefit from a steady supply of personal use water and a consistent product, restoring the Los Parmaritos has made all the difference to their lives.

The stream mostly flows underground, fed by rainwater that is absorbed and filtered through the soil into the bedrock, a process assisted and regulated by upper-level coffee plantations. The water is collected in a 168 cubic meter underground holding tank and dispersed into an aqueduct; this minimizes the danger of flash floods and directs the flow of the stream to the areas most in need of water. On its way downhill, the stream irrigates a plantation designed specifically to preserve soil integrity and prevent erosion, which in turn preserves the integrity and controllability of the stream.

Three kinds of crops are cultivated together: short-cycle cash crops, long-cycle/reforesting cash crops, and barrier crops. Papaya is a short-cycle crop; it can be harvested several times a year but saps the soil of nutrients and is susceptible to a virus that rots it from the inside out. Once the virus sets in – indicated by yellow spots on the leaves – the plant will only produce one more good crop before it must be retired and the soil rested.

That’s where long-cycle crops like avocado trees come in. An avocado tree may take up to three years to produce a first crop, but its roots reinforce the soil and absorb moisture, preventing runoff.  Once they appear, the avocados, particularly the giant Semil 34 avocado, are a boon for farmers, fetching up to 35 pesos per fruit in urban markets and at least 20 in rural markets. Orange and other citrus trees also help to reforest the slopes, and their ability to provide a saleable product means people will be less inclined to cut them down again in the future.

Finally, barrier crops like patchouli and non-fruit-bearing relatives of sugar cane and limoncillo are planted at regular intervals between the cash crops. They are hardy, absorbent, prevent soil and water from running downhill into the stream, and can be harvested for animal feed.

The three types of crops work together to give the community a competitive advantage and prevent farmers from resorting to ecologically devastating practices like slash and burn harvesting, which significantly reduces the productive life of the soil and necessitates the clear-cutting of new land for agriculture.

The Artibonito team is currently wrapping up two years of careful study of the ecological and socioeconomic conditions in various communities situated along tributaries of the Artibonito to see whether projects similar to the El Cercado agro-forestry plantation would be feasible and beneficial to those communities. Osiris and representatives of the other organizations helping to coordinate the project believe this model represents the future of agriculture on the border, and that even when this project is complete, other communities will be able to apply for funding and support to implement development projects of their own.

Change has to happen at the community level, Osiris says. Then, sweeping his arms wide to encompass the entire dramatic panorama of the Sierra de Neiba, adds that the larger mission of the Artibonito project is to protect all of this for the enjoyment and sustenance of future generations.

Read about the Artibonito Project