On a stretch of dry, depleted land in Curaçao, Benjamin Visser has spent the past year proving something most people would have called impossible: that this soil can grow food again. Now, we’re walking in a lush green food forest, and he’s only just getting started.
Benjamin was born and raised on the island. From an early age, he saw Curaçao’s potential for sustainable projects, even though he did not yet know exactly where that interest would take him. Today, he leads Fundashon SISAPERE, the foundation behind the food forest.
Ten years in the making
Benjamin didn’t stumble into this. He spent ten years looking for the right piece of land before an offer finally came through. “You can call it meant to be, after such a long search,” he says.
That land, two hectares (that’s almost tree soccer fields big!) in the Toni Kunchi neighborhood, is now home to Fundashon SISAPERE’s community food forest, built using a method called syntropic agroforestry. In short, it’s a way of farming that works with the land’s own logic instead of against it, restoring severely degraded land with permaculture and drought-resistant native species, local trees, herbs, and vegetables to bring dry, depleted soil back to life.
Learning to read what the land needs
Ask Benjamin to explain syntropic farming and he won’t reach for textbook terms. He’ll talk about lines running north to south, planted to catch the most out of every hour of sunlight. He’ll explain how he mows the grass not to tidy the plot, but because the act itself triggers the plants around it to grow back stronger. He’ll show you how he prunes woody branches and lets them fall on the ground to act as mulch, feeding the soil the way a forest feeds itself.
Underneath it all is one idea: instead of clearing land and planting one single thing at a time, he plants fast-growing species alongside young fruit trees, so the fast growers protect, shade, and feed the slower ones while they take root.
We walked around the first plot today and it already looks like a small jungle. Rows of Shimaruku and Appeldam run down the center – two of the many local fruit trees Benjamin has built a whole system around – flanked by elephant grass standing tall enough to brush well over my knees. Between the rows, opal cacti hold their ground in the driest patches. Nothing here is ornamental. Every plant has a job: shading, feeding, holding water, or simply making room for the tree that matters most.
“It’s less a technique and more so a way of paying attention: to what the land already knows how to do, and getting out of its way,” he sums up.
Fourteen months in, and the first plot is well up and running. A well and a drip irrigation system, run on a timer, keep everything watered through the driest stretches. More plots are taking shape behind it, one after another.
The food forest has several local fruits and veggies
Not a solo project
Benjamin is not building this on his own, nor does he want to.
“The community is essential,” he says.
A Work-for-Food program has been set up for the local community. During volunteer days, local residents help develop and maintain the food forest. In return, the harvest is shared among participants, including bananas, papaya, herbs, cucumbers, daikon and corn.
Benjamin is also experimenting with a token system that allows participants to exchange time and knowledge. One hour of expertise represents one token. Someone who contributes can later use the knowledge or assistance of someone else. In this way, he hopes to encourage people to share not only food, but also knowledge and skills.
Benjamin also organizes tours and workshops, a Nature Club for children, lectures and field visits for students from the University of the Dutch Caribbean.
But the visible results do not tell the whole story. This type of farming takes time. It takes a while before enough food can be harvested, and for Benjamin, that also meant a difficult year without a stable income.
“Building something new almost always costs more than it brings in at the beginning,” he says.
Why this goes beyond one piece of land
Collaboration with the education sector is also growing. Starting in January 2027, four interns from the Netherlands will spend five months conducting research and contributing to the further development of the food forest. The site will also become part of the University of the Dutch Caribbean’s Circular Economy course, giving students the opportunity to gain practical experience there every year.
In the future, Benjamin hopes to build simple houses made from pallet wood on the site for students and volunteers who come to help for longer periods.
For Benjamin, the food forest is proof of something bigger: that Curaçao’s soil, no matter how depleted it may look today, can be restored. And that restored land can eventually produce local food again, helping strengthen the island’s food supply.
It is a long-term process. But Benjamin is convinced that it is possible.
About the project: Fundashon SISAPERE’s food forest received start-up funding through the INNO-Fonds, which supports small organizations across the Netherlands, Aruba, Bonaire, Curaçao, Saba, Sint Maarten, and St. Eustatius working on nature conservation projects. From education and research to, as here, rebuilding the soil itself.
Written by Katjana Cabenda and Evita Sanches