Sustainable Harvest International works with many communities in Panama where farmers have been growing rice on hillsides using destructive slash-and-burn techniques to clear the land.  We have shown families that when they grow rice in paddies instead of on burnt hillsides, they improve their rice yields by 400% to 800% without having to cut down more forest.  In addition to greatly improving family income and reducing deforestation, these paddies provide a wonderful ecosystem where fish can be raised with the rice.  These fish eat weeds and pests while naturally fertilizing the rice crop.

Join volunteers from the University of Maine, SHI-Panama staff and SHI's participant families in the construction of a community rice tank in a rural village in the district of Anton.   Volunteers participating in this project  will have the opportunity to truly experience Panamanian life while bringing hope to a village in need.  The community tank will not only provide food and income to the local community, but will also serve as a model which individual farmers can implement on their own land.  Volunteers will spend the majority of their stay constructing the tank with the local community.  Volunteers will stay in rustic lodging and enjoy fresh local foods.  There will also be a weekend tourist excursion which may include such activities as visiting the Panama Canal, salsa dancing, snorkeling, hiking and relaxing on the beach.

Cost:  $950 per person includes meals, lodging, in-country transportation, program support and a weekend excursion to the San Blas Islands.

Click here to download a registration form.

Join the Sustainable Harvest Honduras team at our new demonstration farm in Honduras.  SHI's demonstration farm site sits on 20 acres of rough land in the mountainous district of Santa Barbara, farmland typical of this region.  This year, with support from local families and volunteers, the SHI-Honduras team will finish the construction of an educational facility on the site.  It will serve as a place where local farming families can learn about sustainable agricultural practices they can implement on their own land.  The educational center's classrooms and dormitories have been constructed.  Now we need your assistance to move forward with a variety of important projects.  Volunteer projects may include solar energy systems, biogas digester construction, organic growing demonstration area, natural erosion barriers, permaculture, hydroponics demonstration site, a biodiesel workshop, irrigation systems and production of natural or organic alternatives to chemical fertilizers and insecticides.  Volunteers participating in this project will stay on the farm working with local families and Honduran staff to create a model where farmers will learn alternatives to destructive slash-and-burn agricultural practices.  In addition to work projects, there will also be a weekend excursion to enjoy a coastal Garífuna village and the ancient Mayan ruins of Copan.

Cost: $800 per person includes meals, rustic lodging in the recently constructed dorms at the demo farm, in-country transportation, project materials, program support and a weekend trip to visit the Caribbean Coast and the ancient Mayan Ruins of Copan.

Click here to download a registration form.

Click here to learn about past Smaller World Tours!

Questions?  Please click here to contact our Outreach Office for more information.