- - 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.

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. We also manage the Belizean Maya Ethnobotanical Research Project for University of Florida. We welcome farmers, researchers, interns and student groups throughout the year. During dry season (December through May) we also host a variety of courses that support our mission. 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

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MAYA MOUNTAIN
RESEARCH FARM
San Pedro Columbia
P.O. Box 153
Punta Gorda
Belize, C.A.
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Cacao is an ideal mid-level canopy species for agroforestry systems. On the left are cacao pods grown at MMRF, on the right cacao beans are being peeled.