Fintrac Harvest Fall 2010

Looking Back on a Decade of Change in Honduras

Fintrac helps a nation recover and get ahead with sustainable agriculture

LA LIMA, Honduras — Fintrac has been transferring technologies and providing technical advisory services to farmers and allied enterprises in Honduras for ten years. In celebration of our 10-year anniversary, we took a look at the impact we have had in collaboration with our partners and clients – including quadrupled crop yields, calendarized planting, and diversification into new crops such as yuca, sweet potatoes, chayote, pineapples, bell peppers and cucumbers, which are now major items in local and export markets.

Together, we have put more than 100,000 hectares into sustainable production, introduced drip irrigation to thousands of small-scale farmers, and expanded/operationalized ten private processing plants that have created more than 1,000 jobs. Fintrac introduced high-density plantain production to Honduras, which increased yields from 20,000 to 100,000 pounds per hectare, and established outgrower programs for processing and exporting.

We set up supply chains for jalapeños for small outgrowers, with volume increases from 3 million to 26 million pounds per year, and yield increases from 45,000 to 150,000 pounds per hectare. We established new supply chains with local and regional supermarkets, helped farmers earn certifications, built the first computerized on-line database for pesticide registrations, and expanded the capacity of NGO field technicians through training. Fintrac has generated new sales of almost

$200 million for farmers, processors and exporters in Honduras and has leveraged and tracked tens of millions of dollars in new private investment.

And it all started with a 22-month grant to help the agriculture sector recover after Hurricane Mitch, which hit Honduras in October 1998. Based on the crop production and diversification results that Fintrac and its first local partner, FHIA, achieved at that time, USAID provided grant extensions, and ultimately awarded Fintrac and its growing consortium an additional multi- year project (USAID-RED), as did MCC, which awarded us MCA-H/EDA. Fintrac staff in Honduras has grown from nine to nearly 100 – all local professionals – and we have formal partnership alliances with grower groups, consulting firms, agriculture schools and universities, NGOs, input suppliers, and financial institutions, and work closely with the Honduras government.