The Unfinished History of the Mayan Kingdom: a Peten memoir

Peten, Guatemala's largest, northernmost province hides Tikal, the largest city of the ancient Mayans. In this place, 2000 years ago, the Mayans built a city estimated to be at least 60 square kilometers in area. In the three square kilometers at this site which have so far been excavated, more than 30 stepped pyramids have been discovered, the tallest, more than 20 storeys in height.

Horses help Peten's farmers carry their corn.

This enormous city was inhabited by an estimated 100,000 Mayans. But 1,000 years ago, they disappeared, leaving behind one of the great mysteries of ancient history. However, research by many scholars indicates that one of the major reasons for the Mayans' abandonment of their city may have been insufficient food supplies.

Miguel, a farmer, holds a large wooden stick, the most important tool in the local variety of corn farming.

Now, a Taiwanese Agricultural Mission has arrived in Peten from the other side of the world. Here, it is using modern Taiwanese agricultural techniques to try to solve this area's 2000-year-old farming problems.

Looking down on Peten from above, one sees no tall buildings; there is only a yellow-green expanse of grassland and forest intermingled with areas charred black from burning, awaiting the planting that will come with the rainy season.

The plane lands at Peten's tiny Flores Airport. As we deplane, a hot breeze blows into our faces. The plane's American and European tourists, dressed in their shorts and sandals, move one by one towards their waiting local guides. From the airport, they will drive across Peten's 60 km of asphalt roads to visit the Mayan ruins at Tikal.

Just three people

The sights, the sounds, and even the textures of Peten are different from those of Guatemala City.

Of all the countries of Central America, it is Guatemala that has the most Indian feeling. More than half its people are Indians while nearly all of the remainder have a mixed Spanish and Indian heritage. Guatemala is more than 108,800 square kilometers in area. The land is high in the south but low in the north. Guatemala City, located in the middle of the country, stands at an elevation of 1,500 meters above sea level. Its climate is cool, almost as if it were naturally air-conditioned. More than 2.2 million people live packed into this, Central America's largest city.

Peten, on the other hand, which is the northernmost of Guatemala's 22 provinces and also the largest, accounting for one-third of Guatemala's total land area, is about the same size as Taiwan, but has a population of only 200,000 people. The province stands at about 100 meters above sea-level and is extremely hot and humid. Here, at the end of the dry season, the 40-degree Centigrade heat almost makes it feel as if you are going to evaporate along with your sweat.

Peten is a remote province separated from Guatemala City by 500 km of high mountains and connected to it by only one half-paved road. To the majority of the people of Guatemala, it is a place they have never visited and, as one person put it, one that "seems as far away as Africa." It is here in this faraway place that Yeh Yun-chao, Lin Yan-jen, and Wu Chen-tzung, three members of a Taiwanese Agricultural Technical Mission, are stationed to educate the local farmers in farming and animal husbandry techniques. The Mission's first objective is to increase the output of the local staple crops, corn and black beans, while reducing damage to the forest.

Raising a pyramid

The pyramids which poke out through the forest canopy have long caused scholars to wonder how it was possible that the Mayans, without any metal tools, were able to carve so many huge stone blocks. It was only recently that this mystery was solved. The explanation lies in the special character of Peten's limestone geology. Natural limestone is much softer than most other stone and is therefore easy to cut and shape. However, once it is exposed, it gradually hardens. This abundance of limestone enabled the Mayans to construct their startling pyramids, but it also makes farming very difficult.

Driving towards the small village in which the Mission conducts it training, our jeep flies along the bumpy, gravel road kicking up a smoky white cloud. "Looking at that white gravel, you know how poor this soil is," says Technical Trainer Yeh Yun-chao as he drives.

Most of Peten's soil has been created by limestone erosion which makes for very acidic soil. The soil is only half as fertile as typical soil. Making the situation worse is the fact that the topsoil is only about 25 cm deep. (In Taiwan, topsoil is typically from 50 cm to one meter deep.) This means that many deep-rooted plants cannot be grown because they are too easily blown over by the wind. Peten's most important crops are largely shallow-rooted varieties such as corn, black beans, and rice.

Burning for 2000 years

In addition to the naturally poor soil quality, the area's traditional slash-and-burn agriculture has wrung out what little strength the land has, searing black scars into the green flesh of the forest. In preparation for the approach of the June rains, in April the locals begin the "mountain burning season." At that time, both sides of the mountain roads are charred black by the fires. In some places, little tongues of flame can be seen shooting out, in others, the smoke is so heavy that the road ahead is obscured.

For farmers, the benefit of this ancient method of agriculture is that it saves work and eliminates weeds. However, it also burns off many essential elements in the soil and hardens the topsoil, making it difficult to till. A piece of land which has been burned in this way remains arable for only two years, after which it must be allowed to lie fallow for ten years. If a farmer attempts to raise crops for a third consecutive year, the harvest is typically only half that of the original harvest. A farmer using the traditional slash-and-burn method who wants a normal harvest every year must possess six pieces of land for every one under cultivation.

Peten is large and sparsely populated, so many farmers just claim a piece of forest and burn it. After a year or two, when the soil is exhausted, they find another piece of forest and continue slashing and burning. At one time, Peten teemed with mahogany and sandalwood, but with commercial logging, illegal logging, and the burning by farmers to clear new fields, the forest is being destroyed at a rate of nine hectares per year. In order to resolve the area's long standing agricultural problems, the Guatemalan government has sent a vice-minister of agriculture to Peten to look at the situation. Vice-Minister Luis Larrazabal feels that the major reason for the severe damage to the forest is the slash-and-burn agriculture of the farmers which has led to reduced rainfall and higher temperatures in the province.

Slash-and-burn agriculture has persisted in the region since the early days of the Mayans, 2000 years ago. Many scholars believe that one of the more persuasive arguments for explaining the disappearance of Mayan civilization is that under pressure from a huge population, cleared fields had no chance to lie fallow, eventually leading to famine which caused the population to depart the area.

Descendants of the corn

The pressures on Peten's lands are even greater now than in the days of the Mayans. First among these pressures is the concentration of 70% of the land in the hands of only 2% of the populace. At the end of last year, the government and the guerrillas finally agreed on a treaty to end the country's 36-year-long civil war. Refugees who fled to Mexico during the war are now returning to their lands to reestablish their homes. This has led to a large increase in Peten's population in the last two years. In addition, the passing of land by fathers to sons and by sons to grandsons makes the acquisition of land still more difficult while at the same time reducing the size of the plots held. This, in turn, means that there is no way to allow the land to recover. In Chinchila, an old farmer named Miguel says, "My land is tired; she has no chance to rest."

For this reason, Larrazabal feels that the solution to the damage to the forests and to the insufficient harvests lies in teaching farmers to fertilize so that they needn't clear new lands.

The Mayans viewed themselves as the children of the Corn God. In fact, "Maya" means corn. Among the Mayan ruins, one can still find images of the Corn God, his head decorated with small ears of corn. Sometimes, the Corn God appears together with the Sun God, representing a bountiful harvest. At other times, the Corn God is seen with the God of Death, representing a poor harvest.

To this day, the diet of the Indians consists primarily of tortillas made from corn and lime which are soaked, ground into flour, and then cooked. The tortillas are eaten with a black bean paste. At festival times, they add chicken, onions, tomatoes and spices to the corn flour, wrapping it all up in banana leaves to create an Indian version of the Chinese "zong-zi," a sticky rice dumpling wrapped in bamboo leaves. All of Peten's Maya-descended tribes not only eat in the style of the ancient Mayans, but also use almost exactly the same tools and methods to grow their corn.

When the rainy season approaches, tracts of forest are cleared and burned. A sharpened wooden stick is then used to make a small hole in the ground into which are thrown two or three seeds. The planting is scattered over the forest land. An unusual feature of the Indians' farming techniques is that when the corn ripens, it is not picked. Instead, the stalks are broken near the top, allowing the ears of corn to hang downwards and dry naturally on the stalks. This method is intelligent. Given that there is no need to worry about rainfall at harvest time, it saves the labor otherwise involved in drying the corn and deceives the corn-loving parrots, making them believe that there is no corn to be had. On the other hand, this diffuse method of farming produces only two corn plants per square meter, meaning that it employs a great deal of land and is not easily managed. When asked what reason they had, besides the poor quality of the soil, for using this diffuse method of farming, many farmers simply smiled shyly and said, "I don't know, it's just how our ancestors did it."

Taiwan's Corn God

As early as 1970, there was a Taiwanese Agricultural Technical Mission working in Guatemala. Eight years ago, in order to meet the needs of the Guatemalan government, the Mission established a division in Peten which began to promote new farming methods. Through the teaching of intensive cultivation, seed selection, weeding, and fertilization, the Mission hopes to decrease the farmers' clearing and burning of the land and increase their harvests. The first thing to be changed is the farmers' several-thousand-year-old traditional planting method. By replacing their diffuse style of planting with intensive cultivation, the mission can increase the yield per unit of area and reduce land development, while also reducing manpower requirements and the cost of fertilizers.

Connected to this is providing farmers with superior quality seeds. Technical trainer Lin Yan-jen, who has been in Peten for the last four years, says that most farmers do not use high quality seeds for their planting, instead planting whatever seeds they have left over from the previous year's crop without applying any kind of selection. For this reason, the quality of the seeds has continually declined. Moreover, Peten is in a remote area and transportation is not readily available, meaning that seeds from seed dealers are very expensive. Not only that, but as there is no refrigeration available to preserve the seeds, they tend to deteriorate, causing a low germination rate. Therefore, four years ago the Agricultural Mission began to produce high quality seeds at its experimental farm. Currently, the seeds from this farm supply 10% of Peten's seed needs.

The next step is to improve the quality of the land through weeding and fertilization. The local people currently use burning to clear weeds. However, after planting, the weeds continue to grow, competing with crops for nutrients and overburdening the area's poor-quality soil. This translates into an average yield of corn and black beans per unit of area that is below the average yield of the rest of the country.

In Peten, most farmers are small farmers or subsistence farmers. They have their sharpened wooden sticks for planting and, for the most part, do not understand the value of weeding and fertilizing. Although after three to four years of training, farmers are slowly beginning to accept the new methods, they have no money to buy the necessary materials. For this reason, the Agricultural Mission provides superior seeds and "loans" farmers weed-killers and fertilizers. Fertilizers are first given to farmers as an interest-free loan. Then, when crops are harvested, the loan is repaid in corn and black beans. Initially, it was only by half selling, half giving these materials to the farmers that the farmers were induced to try the new methods. Now, however, more and more people are lining up to receive the "loans," and the mission no longer has sufficient fertilizer available to meet the borrowing demand.

Turning a "green" fertilizer into a crop

Focusing on Peten's low-quality soil, the Agricultural Mission is using fertilizers to treat both the surface and the root of the problem. On the one hand, the mission is providing chemical fertilizers to immediately supplement the nutrients that are being continuously drawn out of the soil. On the other hand, they are teaching farmers to use green fertilizers such as "wuzhua" beans. But although their intentions are good, this effort has not been very successful.

This kind of green fertilization works by crushing the whole of the "wuzhua" bean plant into the ground when it flowers. The problem is that when the local farmers see the "wuzhua" beans begin to flower, they cannot bear to turn them into a fertilizer. Instead, they wait until the green beans produce a pod and then harvest these pods. It is only after they have harvested the pods that they crush the plants into the ground. They do not understand that by waiting until after the harvest, all the nutrients have gone into the bean pods. The "green fertilizer" has become just another crop and another drain on the soil.

As in the promotion of green fertilization, the attempt to promote the planting of yellow corn is another example of "sowing beans and reaping squash." The Agricultural Mission, having noticed the poor nutrition of the people of Peten, conducted test plantings and evaluated the results for three years before introducing a variety of yellow corn with twice the protein of the white corn grown by local farmers. But the people of Peten didn't like the yellow corn because they felt that its moisture content was too high and that it was therefore difficult to make into tortillas. The result of this is that the delicious and nutritious yellow corn introduced by the Agricultural Mission is now the favorite dish of the area's pigs and chickens, which is certainly not what the Mission had in mind at the outset.

Winter melons should be sweet

On discovering that the Agricultural Mission is coming to conduct a class, farmers in Chinchilla who are receiving Mission training put down their tools and, leaving their work behind, gather at the home of the farmers' representative. Domingo, a local farmer, points to his granary and tells us, "This season, my fields produced 330 bags of corn. Last year, when fertilizer was more plentiful, I harvested 500 bags. Before the Taiwanese Agricultural Mission came, my harvest was only about 200 bags of corn a year." By using intensive cultivation and fertilization to grow corn, a "manzana" (about 0.7 hectares) which once produced an average of about 2000 lbs. of corn can be made to produce about 4000 lbs. More encouraging to the Agricultural Mission is, as Lin Yan-jen says, "About one-third of those farmers who have received training from us no longer need to use slash-and-burn farming methods."

When the neighboring village of Ixbobo heard that there were Chinese people in Chinchilla helping the farmers, they sent Carlos to the workstation on a public bus to represent them. Lin Yan-jen recalls, "At that time, the application period had already passed. I told Carlos to come earlier next time. But he wouldn't give up and came back three times, finally becoming one of our students." Now, in Ixbobo, in addition to using the new methods to grow corn and black beans, farmers are planting vegetables and raising chickens under the guidance of the Mission. These are two other focuses of the Agricultural Mission's work in Peten, namely, improving the nutritional value of the farmers' diet and raising supplemental incomes.

The only road connecting Peten to the outside world is a gravel-paved government road. Most fruits and vegetables must undergo 12 hours of jolting before arriving in the province. Because of this, "Tomatoes in Guatemala City cost only Q1.50/pound, but here they are Q3.00. In Guatemala City, green peppers cost Q0.70, but here they cost Q2.00. . ." Chen Chia-yao, an Overseas Chinese who runs a hotel in Peten, lists them one by one. For the people of Peten, whose income is only half the national average, fruits and vegetables are very expensive luxuries that most seldom eat.

In the garden of Reymundo, who was trained by the Mission, there are trellises on which grow cucumbers and red beans. Winter melons and duckweed creep along the ground. In other seasons, the garden also holds carrots, cherry radishes, and bergamot. All of these crops have been carefully selected to ensure that they match the tastes of the local people, are resistant to disease and are easy to raise.

Having an additional vegetable garden keeps local housewives very busy. In addition to fertilizing and watering the garden daily, they must experiment with new ways of cooking. Lin Yan-jen recommended a ginger and winter melon soup recipe to Reymundo's wife, but the family still prefers a sweet winter melon soup cooked with sugar. Currently, there are nearly 300 families that, like Reymundo's family, are cultivating a vegetable garden.

A dream of eggs

The country's many years of civil war have made the differences between rich and poor more acute. In Guatemala, 60% of the children under five years of age suffer from malnutrition. For this reason, in addition to improving the people's diet, the Mission is also training farmers to raise chickens for both eggs and meat to provide the local people with the animal protein which they are lacking.

Ixbobo's Carlos has eight children. He says, "All the kids love to eat eggs. It used to be that eight people split one or two eggs. Now, there are eggs to eat every day." Standing beside us, his small daughter says she can eat six eggs in one day! Carlos has 60 chickens. Every morning, the children go out to the coop to gather eggs, bringing back about 50 every day.

Those eggs which are not eaten can be sold for Q0.75. This income is used to buy stationery and new clothes for the children. In addition, each egg also contains Carlos' long-cherished dream. He says, "I want to have my own piece of land. When I came here 20 years ago, it was in the hope of getting a piece of land." Currently in Peten's 29 villages, there are about 5,000 chickens and with the training the farmers have received from the Mission, these chickens are producing more than 700,000 eggs per year.

Farmers raised chickens in the past, but used to let them run wild on their farms, scrabbling where they would for food. Although farmers spent no money on feed, the chickens grew slowly, sickened easily, and laid few eggs. Feeding the chickens was difficult because feeds were difficult to get and very expensive. Much as it did with the fertilizer and pesticide loans, the Mission organized the farmers at the Model Farm and at El Chal and built a small feed factory at both locations. At these locations, the Mission allows farmers to exchange corn for feed. So far, 150,000 kilograms of feed have been exchanged, benefiting more than 760 farmers.

Money from chilies

Agriculture makes up the major portion of Peten's economy. As prices for corn, black beans and rice are low, incomes are poor. For this reason, the Guatemalan Ministry of Agriculture's "Plan for Peten: 2000" hopes to introduce crops which have high economic value and export potential.

The Agricultural Mission, working in accordance with the Ministry of Agriculture's plan, has introduced 35 crops and 85 varieties for experimentation and comparison. And, based on the Guatemalan Fruit Tree Development Bureau's market research, local farmers have begun cultivating 150 hectares of Indian chilies.

Technical Trainer Yeh Yun-chao, who is responsible for providing technical assistance on the cultivation of the chilies, feels great pressure because the farmers growing the chilies are doing it on land which they have bought with money borrowed at an interest rate of 23%. On the Mother's Day holiday, he even saw the farmers involved in the joint venture out in the chili fields with their whole families, pulling weeds. The farmers laughingly say, "If the chilies can't be sold, that's the fault of the Fruit Tree Development Bureau. But if the harvest is bad, that's the Mission's responsibility."

It's because of this that Yeh makes the six hour round-trip to the chili fields every week to check the leaves, to see that the plants have sufficient fertilizer, to look at the immature fruit, and to prevent an outbreak of disease. If he sees any signs of a contagious disease, he immediately digs the plant out, burns it, and fills the hole with lime.

This year has already seen the first batch of chilies ground into chili powder and exported to Guatemala's eastern neighbor, Belize. Soon, chili sauce made from the second batch will be sent to Mexico and the United States. "This is the first time Peten has sold agricultural products abroad, and is its first foreign income," says Yeh.

Saving the Mayans together

On a winding mountain road on the outskirts of San Luis, there is an education center that was established by a French church. Inside live more than 20 young Mayan girls between the ages of 15 and 22. All were chosen by their villages to come here to learn how to grow coffee and carrots and how to raise chickens and pigs. After their two years of training, they will return to their villages to help their tribes.

This plan to help the Mayan girls was put together by the R.O.C. Agricultural Technical Mission in cooperation with two local agencies and a group from the United States. Sister Grady, who runs the program, says that she is most grateful to the Mission because they not only provide the girls with the seeds they need, but also give them on-the-spot guidance in planting and animal husbandry skills. "We hope these girls will be like a seed, taking the skills they have acquired back to their villages and raising the status of women there," says Sister Grady.

On this piece of the ancient Mayan kingdom, the University of Pennsylvania is engaged in excavation and research on the Mayan ruins. The University's researchers have already put out more than 40 papers on their work. The Japanese government built and maintains the 60 km of asphalt road running from the airport to the Tikal ruins. At Peten's remote border with Mexico, a German Technical Mission teaches birth control and the care of children to women.

The whole of Peten has nine international organizations from places including the United States, Germany, Spain, Canada, and the European Union each working in a different field, one to rescue this ancient civilization, another to preserve the rain forest, and another to protect women. . . . Against this backdrop, the R.O.C. Agricultural Technical Mission has quietly given eight years, sweating together in the fields with the region's poorest farmers.

Continued wars of aggression against foreign tribes by the Mayans 1000 years ago are thought to have been one of the reasons for their kingdom's disappearance. Today, with international organizations having joined hands to cooperate, maybe it will be possible to begin a new chapter in the history of Mayan civilization.

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Slash-and-burn agriculture has been in use in

Guatemala's Peten Province for several thousand years.

Here, the fields are burned

bare ahead of the rainy season.

Indicates a village under the guidance of the Agricultural Mission.

Peten Province's Agricultural Development Areas

Tikal

Belize

El Remate Model Farm

Flores

Peten

Mexico

San Luis Field Station

Caribbean Sea

Honduras

Guatemala City

El Salvador

Pacific Ocean

drawing by Lee Su-ling

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Horses help Peten's farmers carry their corn.

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Miguel, a farmer, holds a large wooden stick, the most important tool in the local variety of corn farming.

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This broad expanse of grassland and forest hides a number of Mayan pyramids. While the role of famine in the Mayans' disappearance is a puzzle for archaeologists, the challenge for the Agricultural Mission and Peten's Maya-descended farmers is how to make the best of the province's difficult environment.

p.92

Peten's remote location and the many years of civil war have made life very difficult for the province's residents.

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Corn soaked with lime and baked becomes a tortilla, the staple food of the Indians of Central and South America.

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A field of valuable Indian Red Chilies. These will be made into chili powder and chili sauce, Peten's first agricultural exports.

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In addition to attending school and playing, most of Peten's children help with hosehold chores.

This broad expanse of grassland and forest hides a number of Mayan pyramids. While the role of famine in the Mayans' disappearance is a puzzle for archaeologists, the challenge for the Agricultural Mission and Peten's Maya-descended farmers is how to make the best of the province's difficult environment.

Peten's remote location and the many years of civil war have made life very difficult for the province's residents.

Corn soaked with lime and baked becomes a tortilla, the staple food of the Indians of Central and South America.

A field of valuable Indian Red Chilies. These will be made into chili po wder and chili sauce, Peten's first agricultural exports.