The agriculture sector stands as the top source of income for the poor in Honduras, providing employment and opportunities for economic growth. Feed the Future provides assistance to poor Honduran households to increase their incomes by moving away from subsistence farming to market-driven solutions in high-value crops, improving animal production, diversifying income sources, improving access to credit, and expanding off-farm microenterprise opportunities.
Feed the Future investments assisted more than 40,000 families, representing more than 200,000 people, to increase their incomes by diversifying their subsistence farming production to higher-value crops. In 2017, Feed the Future helped 11,864 families plant high-value crops for the first time, as compared to 6,148 families in 2016. Supporting farmers to grow a variety of crops, in addition to the traditional subsistence crops of corn and beans, continues to be a cornerstone of Feed the Future activities in Honduras. Horticulture is critical for income diversification, as these crops generate an average of $4,000 per hectare, allowing households to increase their incomes and move out of poverty.
Feed the Future is helping families diversify their income sources to build resilience to shocks and stresses, such as hurricanes and drought. These efforts include support for animal production, including animal-derived products such as dairy and eggs, which are an important component of income diversification. In the event of an emergency such as a drought, animals can be sold at short notice to supplement family income. In FY17, animal and animal product sales grew by $3.3 million over the baseline, as compared to an increase of $981,414 in FY16. Sales from agricultural processing and microenterprise activities increased $7.1 million since 2011, as compared to an increase of $2.7 million in FY16.
These results reflect information from the U.S. Agency for International Development, the U.S. Department of Agriculture and the U.S. Department of Treasury (through the International Fund for Agricultural Development and the Global Agriculture and Food Security Program), reported into Feed the Future’s central monitoring system for fiscal year 2017 (FY17). Impact data for poverty and stunting statistics comes from a 2015 population-based survey by the International Food Policy Research Institute. All dollar amounts are listed in U.S. dollars. Other results are reported in activity level documentation (annual reports, assessment reports) specifically from Access to Markets, Alliance for the Dry Corridor Activity (ACS-USAID).
Honduras has experienced a moderate recovery since the 2008-2009 global economic downturn. 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. Poverty and undernutrition continue to limit many Hondurans from leading more productive lives, therefore hampering the development of the next generation. More than 64 percent of Hondurans live below the national poverty line and are without access to basic services such as clean water, energy and infrastructure (just over 20 percent of the roads in Honduras are paved). The lack of basic services exacerbates poor health and sanitation, particularly in rural areas, where some 60 percent of Honduras’ extreme poor reside. Twenty-five percent of children are stunted in rural western Honduras, where Feed the Future works.
Honduras is also one of the most vulnerable countries to climate shocks, which exacerbate poverty and food insecurity and make agriculture more difficult as some areas become warmer and rain patterns become more erratic, altering production and market patterns.
Feed the Future’s work in Honduras helps families diversify their incomes and crops, gain access to lucrative markets, and tap into growth opportunities both on and off the farm. Health and nutrition interventions are strengthening community health centers and volunteer services, with a focus on children under five years of age, and improving household diets and hygiene and child feeding practices.
Feed the Future introduces adaptive agricultural practices to improve crop and household resilience. Feed the Future also ensures that both women and men benefit from new opportunities by supporting post-production jobs and enterprises, which are ideal opportunities for rural women.
Feed the Future supports the following programs, partnerships and organizations in Honduras.
For Salomon and other Honduran farmers, access to production technology and crop protection products has been a game-changer. By better managing their crops and protecting against pests, farmers are increasing yields and creating jobs for their communities through better market demand for produce.
Read MoreFeed the Future introduces agricultural practices and technologies to growers in western Honduras that provide adaptation measures to ensure sustainable agricultural growth.
Read MoreImproving nutrition, particularly for mothers and young children, is one of Feed the Future’s highest-level goals. In Honduras, some important breakthroughs in nutrition programming are paving the way toward better health and nourishment for some of the country’s most vulnerable children.
Read MoreFeed the Future and Lutheran World Relief are working together with ten municipalities in Western Honduras on a project to help women and men to advocate for policy changes that enhance women’s access to credit and respond to their needs in agriculture.
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