Ligia Belli is in the process of becoming a certified instructor of GROW BIOINTENSIVE® (basic level) through Ecology Action and ECOPOL.

Also, Ligia is a “grower of seeds” for the ECHO-BioNica Seed System.

Ligia and her family live on a small-scale farm, Las Gardenias, near Ticuantepe, Nicaragua. Ligia studied Animal Science at the Universidad Centroamericana (UCA) in Nicaragua and at Cornell University in Ithaca, New York. Ligia has been involved in several livestock projects such as Proyecto Lechero Chiltepe, the Dirección General de Ganadería at the Ministry of Agriculture, and with Ganaderos Asociados del Nor-Sur exporting meat products from Nicaragua to Mexico.

Since 2008, Ligia has extensive training and experience in producing diversified agricultural goods and the application of agro ecological farming technologies, including hydroponics, organic farming, vermiculture, urban agriculture, production of beneficial microorganisms, organoponics, biodigestors, etc. Ligia has managed to apply the knowledge acquired in workshops and trainings in different modalities, including e-learning.

Las Gardenias produces more than 25 products, including dairy, fruits, vegetables, timber, and processed biomass through composting, vermiculture, fermented beneficial microorganisms, and charcoal production (Biochar).

Ligia Belli Castellón
Quinta Las Gardenias
Tecuantepe, Nicaragua
Nica cel: +505 8884-0890
e-mail: Ligia Belli

Javier Silva is President of the Asociación para el Desarrollo Agroecológico Regional (ADAR) and is the Administrator of the Center for Biointensive-Agroecology (Centro Agroecológico Biointensivo).

Javier is a certified teacher of GROW BIOINTENSIVE® (basic level) through Ecology Action and ECOPOL.

Also, Javier is a “grower of seeds” for the ECHO-BioNica Seed System.

Javier is a graduate of the Autonomous University of Nicaragua in agroecology and has a masters in agroecology and sustainable development from the Universidad Nacional Agraria.

Previously, Javier was a specialist in agroecology production with SIMAS (Servicio de Información Mesoamericano sobre Agricultura Sostenible) and before that he was the technician for the Norwalk-Nagarote Sister City Project where he demonstrated the biointensive method.

Ing. Javier Ignacio Silva Rivera
Administrador de Centro Agroecológico Biointensivo
President – Asociación para el Desarrollo Agroecológico Regional (ADAR)
Nicaragua: +505 8399-3898 m, +505 8434-4223 c
e-mail Javier Silva

Yolidia de los Ángeles Hernández Gutiérrez (Yoli) is a certified teacher of GROW BIOINTENSIVE® (basic level) through Ecology Action and ECOPOL.

Also, Yoli is a “grower of seeds” for the ECHO-BioNica Seed System.

Yoli was born in Matagalpa and grew up watching her father farm the land – which taught her the love and respect for nature.

Yoli graduated as a teacher and taught for several years. In the early 90’s she left the classroom to engage in community social development with the Association for Integrated Community Development (ADIC). This experience gave her the opportunity to specialize in different issues involving social change, with emphasis on gender equality. Yoli has developed skills in the management and execution of community projects.

Years later, Yoli served as the General Coordinator of ADIC until 2002 when she went to Cuba. During the first years in Cuba, Yoli volunteered as a grass-roots instructor in gender equality in Havana. In 2007 Yoli temporarily coordinated the Canada Fund for Local Initiatives of the Canadian Embassy in Cuba.

Yoli also worked with Oxfam Canada as a permanent consultant in a gender mainstreaming project for the Asociación Nacional de Agricultores Pequeños (National Association of Small Farmers). The experience with the Cuban farmers deeply reminded Yoli of her roots and restored her yearning to cultivate the land.

Yoli came back to Nicaragua in 2011 and settled on the island of Ometepe. She is one of the founders of the Red de Mujeres de Ometepe (Women’s Network of Ometepe), a community social movement with an organizational philosophy of networking, teamwork, and volunteerism. Yoli has joined the biointensive movement with BioNica. Her vegetable garden called “Anahuac” (a Nahuatl word meaning “Near the Water”) is located in the community of Santo Domingo, in the municipality of Altagracia.

Yolidia de Los Ángeles Hernández Gutiérrez
Red de Mujeres de Ometepe
Huerto Anahuac, comunidad Santo Domingo, Municipio Altagracia
Isla de Ometepe, Nicaragua
Nica cel: +505 8403-6857
e-mail: Yolidia Hernández

Juan Miguel García is a certified teacher of GROW BIOINTENSIVE® (basic level) through Ecology Action and ECOPOL.

Juan Miguel is also a “grower of seeds” for the ECHO-BioNica Seed System.

Juan Miguel comes from a farming family from the Loma de Café community of Boaco. He began his career in agronomic engineering after graduating from the Universidad Nacional Agraria (national agrarian university) in Camoapa, Nicaragua in 2012.

Juan Miguel started in a volunteer position at Clinica Verde in 2014, when he started a biointensive garden program at the clinic. He has since become a full-time member of the team. Juan Miguel says he enjoys the ability to promote the conservation of the natural environment to students in the region.

Juan Miguel García Blanco
Agricultural Engineer
Clinia Verde
Boaco, Nicaragua
e-mail: Juan Miguel García

Elioena Arauz Zeledón is a certified teacher of GROW BIOINTENSIVE® (basic level) through Ecology Action and ECOPOL.

Elioena was an apprentice at the Center for Biointensive Agroecology in the months of June, July and August of 2014.

Elioena resides on her family’s farm near San Dionisio, Matagalpa, Nicaragua – where they demonstrate the biointensive method. Elioena is also a producer for the Programa Campesino a Campesino (PCaC) of the Unión Nacional de Agricultores y Ganaderos (UNAG-San Dionisio).

Elioena has studied accounting at INTAE-Matagalpa and Business Economics at UCAM-Matagalpa.

Elioena Arauz Zeledón
Comunida El Corozo, casa comunal 500 varas al este, San Dionisio, Matagalpa
Nica cel: +505 8116-2337
e-mail: Elioena Arauz

John is a certified teacher of GROW BIOINTENSIVE® (basic level) through Ecology Action and ECOPOL.

John has resided in Managua, Nicaragua since 1992.  John founded one of Nicaragua’s original internet service providers (IBW) and currently is a partner at Fabrica de Chocolate Momotombo and teaches masters-level classes at la Universidad Americana en Managua (UAM).

John Wyss
Maestro – Agroecológico Biointensivo
Nicaragua: +505 8882 0966
e-mail:

Omar David Izaguirre Ponce is in the process of becoming a certified instructor of GROW BIOINTENSIVE® (basic level) through Ecology Action and ECOPOL.

Also, Omar is Vice President of the Asociación para el Desarrollo Agroecológico Regional (ADAR).

Omar resides in Somoto in the northern part of Nicaragua and has worked with agroecology projects in the region of the Segovias for more than four years. From his childhood in an impoverished rural town, Omar has a personal understanding of the lives of small-scale farmers.

Omar serves as the Field Technician with SUCO in the agroecology project PROGA-Jóvenes, where he has implemented the biointensive method.

Omar studied engineering in agriculture production at the Universidad Centroamericana (UCA-Managua) where he was awarded a scholarship for his technical performance.

In addition to working on agroecology projects, Omar has held positions coordinating programs in local economic development, agro-business, and inter-institutional relations with local governments.

Omar leads workshops for ADAR throughout Nicaragua and has designed a training curriculum for high-school students. Omar possesses exceptional skills in managing group dynamics and is able to adapt the training material to the various learning levels of the participants.

Omar David Izaguirre Ponce
Vicepresidente – ADAR
Asociación para el Desarrollo Agroecológico Regional
Instructor – Agroecológico Biointensivo
Nicaragua: +505 8442 6493
Skype: davidacf-e
e-mail: Omar David Izaguirre Ponce

Juan Manuel Martínez is the president of Ecología y Población A.C. (ECOPOL) and is the International Partner and legal representative of Ecology Action in Latin America and the Caribbean. On behalf of Ecology Action and ECOPOL, Juan Manuel is a signer of the Agreement of Cooperation with CCID en Nicaragua and the Universidad Nacional Agraria that established the Centro Agroecológico Biointensivo training and research center.

Juan Manuel started ECOPOL (Ecología y Población) in 1992, after he had arranged for two biointensive workshops in Mexico lead by John Jeavons. It was then when John Jeavons and Juan Manuel strategized about the most effective ways of disseminating the Biointensive system throughout Mexico and Latin America. ECOPOL was the result, a non-profit organization that would focus exclusively on this goal.

Juan Manuel Martínez Valdez
President
Ecología y Población A.C. (ECOPOL)
Apartado Postal Numero 2
CP 50360, Aculco, Estado de México, México
Telephones: (55) 5651-1143 y (55) 1308-6040
e-mail Juan Manuel Martinez