Agriculture

President Nasry Asfura announced $17 million in additional funding to expand ProOccidente, a rural development program, into Honduras's Dry Corridor, aiming to provide technical assistance, climate-smart technologies, financing, and market access to over 4,500 small and medium-sized farmers.

The Agriculture Ministry convened dairy-industry leaders to review production challenges, market stability, and supply strategies, with officials reporting that Honduras produces roughly 1.7 million liters of milk daily and prices remain stable through July.

Honduran onion producers say they may suspend planting next season if the government fails to enforce a 2023 agricultural decree that restricts imports when local supplies are sufficient, warning of potential national shortages and market disruption.

Agroindustrial leader Gustavo Flores cautioned that climate change could disrupt Honduras's agricultural output and threaten the country's food security and access to basic grains.

The Agriculture Ministry called together the National Dairy Commission to review milk-sector conditions, price trends, and develop joint strategies between producers and industry to ensure steady national milk supply.

Honduras's agricultural sector expanded 4.5%, driven by increased coffee, banana, fruit, and palm oil production, while fishing grew on higher shrimp and tilapia exports.

The Agriculture Ministry will spend 140 million lempiras (about $5.6 million) rehabilitating irrigation districts to improve water efficiency and boost crop production on 12,000 hectares, helping farmers adapt to climate variability.

The Agriculture Ministry announced a L140-million investment (about $5.6 million USD) to rehabilitate irrigation districts across Honduras, aiming to improve water efficiency, strengthen farm production, and help farmers withstand droughts and climate variability.

Honduras is planting 1,000 manzanas (about 700 hectares) with high-yield certified rice seed imported from the Dominican Republic in a pilot program costing roughly 5 million lempiras (about $187,000) to improve grain quality and reduce import dependence.

Honduras's avocado producers are preparing to export to Europe and Asia through training, technical support, and partnerships with international cooperators, building on the country's annual production of over 15 million pounds.

Honduras expects to earn $2.4 billion from coffee exports by September 30, when the current coffee year ends, with 6.8 million quintals already shipped and 120,000 producers supporting roughly one million jobs across the sector.

Engineer Dulio Medina warned Honduras faces a food crisis without a clear agricultural strategy, citing low valley output and rural farming deficits.

Prices for vegetables and legumes at Tegucigalpa's Feria del Agricultor have risen sharply—potatoes up 2 lempiras per pound, broccoli up 5, and red onions up 10–20—as drought in major farming zones like Lepaterique has cut production.

Engineer Dulio Medina cautioned that Honduras faces a possible shortage of beans and other staple grains after drought and planting failures in Olancho and El Paraíso reduced crop supply for coming weeks.

A month-long drought has cut crop yields across key farming regions and pushed vegetable prices sharply higher at Tegucigalpa's main produce market, with merchants warning of further increases if rains do not return.

Honduras's agriculture ministry and the national coffee institute signed a 100-million-lempira (about $4 million) cooperation agreement to boost coffee production through research, technical assistance, technology transfer, and improved quality standards.

Agriculture Minister Moisés Molina said Honduras requires approximately $16 billion in investment to fund irrigation projects that would modernize 500,000 acres of agricultural land.

Spain will resume exporting pork to Honduras under national health controls and monitoring protocols, as Honduran pork producers watch how the reopened market develops.

Drought, soaring prices for seeds and fertilizer, and limited access to credit are cutting production of Honduras's staple grains, corn and beans, officials warn.

The government and domestic onion producers agreed to permit imports from July onward to maintain supply and stable prices as the eastern region's harvest winds down, while prioritizing local purchases during harvest seasons.

Honduras imports over 40 million pounds of avocados annually at a cost of $12–15 million in foreign exchange, and producers say strengthening domestic cultivation across the country's 1,200 farms could reduce dependency and support the agricultural economy.

Honduras has exported over 6 million quintals (about 270,000 metric tons) of coffee worth $2.05 billion this season, and with sales contracts already near 6.85 million quintals, officials project final exports could reach 7 million quintals before the September 30 harvest close.

The government approved importing 60,000 metric tons of rice from South America with zero tariffs through December 31, bypassing the 45% duty normally applied to countries without free-trade agreements, drawing criticism from domestic rice producers who say they lack guaranteed prices and a coherent agricultural plan.

Honduran coffee exporters say all the country's coffee farms are prepared for evaluation under new European Union requirements that ban imports from land cleared of forest, a standard for selling into European markets.

Neptalí Gonzales Soler died after being struck by lightning while working in a maize field in El Negrito, Yoro; he was the second person killed by lightning in Honduras in a week.

The Vice Minister of Coffee said Honduras has sufficient supplies of beans and corn to meet domestic demand despite drought affecting several regions of the country.

Honduras's agriculture, forestry, and fishing sector expanded thanks to improved coffee yields from better farming practices and a rebound in banana, fruit, and African palm production.

Honduras and the World Bank will launch a program to provide technical training to roughly 200,000 small-scale coffee producers nationwide, aiming to boost productivity and competitiveness in a key sector of the economy.

Honduras's agricultural science agency is strengthening the genetic traits of corn, rice, and beans to improve their resilience to drought and climate-change impacts.

Agriculture Minister Moisés Molina says no cattle deaths have been reported from the ongoing drought affecting 75 municipalities, though he acknowledged that poor preparation and lack of feed—compounded by the dry spell—are causing animal losses in some areas.