Feed the Future works in the regions of La Paz, Intibucá, Lempira, Ocotepeque, Copán and Santa Bárbara.
Number of people living in Feed the Future target regions (Feed the Future ZOI Survey, 2015)
Annual GDP growth; agriculture accounts for 10.7 percent of added value (World Bank, 2019)
Percentage of population living in rural Honduras (World Bank, 2019)
Percentage of people living in poverty in Feed the Future target regions (Feed the Future ZOI Survey, 2015)
Producers using new technologies and practices with Feed the Future’s help in FY19
Annual agricultural sales generated by Honduran farms and firms in FY19
Children under 5 reached with nutrition help in FY19
Honduras has experienced a moderate recovery since the 2008-2009 global economic downturn. But despite this encouraging trend, economic gains over the past several years have largely favored the middle and upper classes, leading to greater income disparity in the country. More than 60 percent of Honduras’ population living in extreme poverty is from rural areas with limited access to basic services such as safe water, energy and infrastructure. Twenty-five percent of children in rural western Honduras suffer from stunting. Feed the Future helps communities combat malnutrition and strengthen resilience by diversifying production and incomes. Feed the Future is also forging relationships with key agribusinesses and other private sector service providers who are expanding inclusive opportunities in the agricultural marketplace, including increasing access to new technologies.
As a cornerstone of its efforts in Honduras, Feed the Future helps farmers grow a variety of crops, in addition to the traditional subsistence crops of corn and beans. Horticulture is critical for income diversification as these crops generate an average of $4,000 per hectare versus an average of $300 per hectare for a staple crop such as corn, enabling families to increase their incomes and move out of poverty.
Since 2015, Feed the Future investments have helped over 250,000 people increase their incomes by diversifying their subsistence farming production to higher-value crops.
Events such as floods and droughts can have devastating impacts on Honduran farmers who rely on crop production for income. Feed the Future is helping these families diversify their incomes so they can be better prepared for these shocks and stresses.
These efforts include training and other support for animal production, including products such as dairy and eggs, which provide valuable supplemental income. In addition, Feed the Future is unlocking access to irrigation to mitigate the impact of drought and grow crops year-round. In 2019, nearly 11,000 farmers applied irrigation technologies to their plots.
Feed the Future’s efforts are creating a better future for Hondurans through increased access to water, credit and markets.
These results reflect information from the U.S. Agency for International Development and the U.S. Department of Agriculture, reported into Feed the Future’s central monitoring system for fiscal year 2019 (FY19). Impact data for poverty and stunting statistics come from a 2015 population-based survey by the International Food Policy Research Institute. For more information on the indicators above, please view our Feed the Future Indicator Handbook. All dollar amounts are listed in U.S. dollars.
Feed the Future supports the following programs, partnerships and organizations in Honduras.
November 29, 2018
June 18, 2015
November 30, 2011
“Thanks to the project, we have all of this,” said Medina, gesturing to her spotless kitchen equipment. “Women can move forward, regardless of obstacles [we] face.”
Glenda Nery Medina, Founder of Fuente de Bendición
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