Part of the history and cultural traditions of many farmers in southern Belize is based around “slash and burn” agriculture. This is exactly what it sounds like and many farmers will go into an area, chop the remainder of previous crops, and burn the fields “clean”.
With population growth and less community involvement in the actual burning of the fields, these fires have often begun to infringe on other’s property and are not as well monitored as in the past. These issues and a combination of other factors saw the slash-and-burn season get out of control in some villages and unfortunately, several small farmers lost their farms and houses.
One of the beautiful things about Belize is the community spirit. Ms. Melanie Marks, pictured above, truly embodies that spirit and put together a fundraiser to help some of those who suffered losses. Melanie reached out to Finca Chocolat to ask our support in identifying those in the most need an we were happy to help.
Sam Tzui, our Assistant Farm Manager spent time in the community to determine who could put the funds to best use and then spent a Saturday taking Melanie on farm visits to distribute funds. We are not solving all of the world’s problems but we do what we can to help those in our community.