Farmer Incomes Double in Honduras

Jackie Pucci Posted by Jackie Pucci|16 September 2015

More than 30,000 farmers in Honduras have significantly increased their yield and income thanks to improved pest management techniques and good agricultural practices, according to CropLife Latin America.

The improvement has come after CropLife Latin America partnered with the United States Agency for International Development’s (USAID) ACCESO project to work with the farmers to prevent and mitigate the ongoing problem of pest and disease outbreaks on their crops.

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In Honduras, 60% of the population live below the poverty line. For a small-scale farmer, growing a healthy crop can be the difference between a life of prosperity and a life in poverty.

The CropLife partnership formed part of USAID’s four year project “ACCESO” to tackle the problem of extreme poverty in western Honduras.

Emiliano Domi­nguez, a small-scale farmer from Intibuca, Honduras, grows strawberries, maize and potatoes. He explains how USAID-ACCESO helped lift his family out of a life of poverty.

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“Around six years ago, an attack of aphids destroyed my plot. I lost all the money I had invested because the damaged fruit and vegetables could not be sold. I lost around 50,000 lempira, ($2,000),” he says. “When ACCESO arrived, that is when my life changed,” he adds.

With increased production of high-value crops, such as strawberries, Emiliano has been able to pay for a new house for his family of five and he has increased the amount of land he farms six times over.

Under the partnership, AHSAFE-Honduras, a member of CropLife Latin America, trained more than 120 USAID-ACCESO field officers as “master trainers” who in turn delivered teaching to the Honduran farmers.

Training in good agricultural practices, such as how to identify pests and diseases and how to prevent and combat them through integrated pest management, was a key element of the USAID-ACCESO project which has yielded the following results between 2011 and 2015:

  • 6,626 households moved above the poverty line (less than $1.25 per person per day)
  • 2,000 families doubled their incomes from $1.25 to more than $2.42/person/day
  • Actual sales by project clients between 2013 and 2014 increased by $28 million from basic grains, horticulture, animal production, processing and small businesses activities
  • 3,000 new full-time jobs were created, mostly in off-farm microenterprises
  • The prevalence of underweight children under 2 years old decreased by 50%

Other interventions in the USAID-ACCESO project included household visits from health technicians, training on nutrient rich food production and preparation, as well as reliable links to markets to sell extra products at a better, more consistent price.

 

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