My name is Valentin and I am 55 years old. In the early 1980s when Nicaragua was at war, I was dispossessed of all my belongings and had to travel to neighboring Costa Rica to live until there was a regime change later in the decade. I returned to Nicaragua and now my wife, Inés, and I have lived in the Posa Azul community in Kukra River for the last 17 years.
I have been working with Sustainable Harvest in Nicaragua for two years. In this time I have learned to prepare biofertilizer, compost and vermi- (worm) compost. I have obtained seeds for plaintains, cacao, fruit plants and trees, as well as two crates of vermicompost fertilizer which I have used for vegetables and for the cultivation of plantains and cacao.I have a plantation of 5,000 square meters (1.2 acres) where I have been cultivating cacao for about 7 years. Another organization (Project for Conservation and Forest Development) supplied me with the cacao seeds, but the plantation grew without any management. Now with the help of our Sustainable Harvest field trainer, Maura, I am learning to manage the cacao by fertilizing it with biofertilizer and vermicompost, and pruning it.
I
feel very happy for all the support that you have offered me. I, like other producers, need this knowledge so that we can make changes in our farming techniques, like not purchasing fertilizers which were expensive and harmful to our economy and our land. Thank you so much for giving me the opportunity to be a better producer.PHOTOS: (Left) Valentin Sanchez pruning a cacao tree at his farm in Posa Azul, Kukra River, Bluefields, Nicaragua. (Right) Valentin's SHI Field Trainer, Maura Mejia, with a worm-composting bin.
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"I volunteered with SHI in Honduras many years ago. It was an amazingly inspiring trip, not just because we were able to work side by side with the families we were there to support, but I was able to see firsthand exactly how SHI operates and why its techniques and approach are so successful. SHI is a charity well worth supporting because its mission isn't charity at all -- it's empowerment." 
Sustainable Harvest International
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