Termites and coconut trees

Termites are quite the problem here in the tropical rainforest, not only attacking the wood in our houses, but eating LIVE trees.  There are some trees whose substance is woodier and drier than others, which makes them a great target for these pesky insects who love that taste!  Since coconuts along the coastline thrive in sandy soil,the CEFA team decided that putting sand around the coconut would deter the advance of the hungry termites.  But, as you can see in the photos, the sand was not deterrent enough, so we added salt and a tithonia (local termite repellent plant) solution.   This seems to be working, and is an example of how CEFA works.   CEFA takes the brunt of the loss in experimentation, and passes on the successes to the villager.