Food security through biodiversity

 
 


  Welcome to MMRF:


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 permacultural principles and applied biodiversity. With over 20 years of work, 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 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 have 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.


* these ecological services have been disrupted by the recent uncontained milpa fire that swept the valley


We can be contacted via email at info(at)mmrfbz.org