_{Christopher Nesbitt}

by Charles Gladden

BELIZE CITY, Mon. Feb. 17, 2025

The Inter-American Institute for Cooperation on Agriculture (IICA) has recognized Christopher Nesbitt, a farmer in Belize, as a Leader of Rurality in the Americas for his efforts to restore degraded lands and develop an agroforestry system that combines production and environmental conservation.

The Leader of Rurality in the Americas is a title bestowed on persons who fulfill a double role – being guarantors of food and nutritional security, while also serving as guardians of the planet’s biodiversity through production in any circumstance. It also casts a spotlight on the critical function of rural communities.

Nesbitt, who is originally from New York in the USA, will be awarded the “Soul of Rurality” award by IICA for his initiative.

Nesbitt first stepped foot on Belize soil when he was 19 years old after being invited by his college roommate, a Belizean student, to visit the county. During his trip, Nesbitt encountered an elderly man who was trying to sell his farm.

He worked on the land for a few years, but it yielded no results, until he learned the techniques of using the natural ecosystem process to sequester carbon, reuse waste, care for soil health, and retain water while farming and raising animals in a tropical area of extraordinary biodiversity.

Now, the 70-acre plot of land, located in San Pedro Columbia Village, Toledo District, which had little market value over 30 years ago, has been transformed into a model of sustainability, highlighting forest maintenance with various crops and animal husbandry.

Numerous individuals and organizations have made educational visits to Nesbitt’s property, which houses hundreds of species of native plants and fauna, and produces crops that augment the country’s food supply.

Nesbitt also received the Commonwealth Innovation Award in 2019 for his work.