Rice Production

Rice producers warn the 2026 harvest could fall to just 150,000–160,000 quintals (about 6,800–7,300 metric tons), down from 446,000 in 2025, due to lack of price supports and competition from imports, leaving farmers unable to finance seeds and inputs.

Rice growers in Colón say mechanized land remains unseeded due to lack of financing, crop insurance, and guaranteed prices, threatening to reduce output below 2026 targets.

The Agriculture Ministry projects rice production of 700,000 quintals (about 31,500 metric tons) in the near term, a 40% increase from 2025's roughly 500,000 quintals, as part of a strategy to reduce dependence on imports that currently supply over five million of the six million quintals Honduras consumes annually.

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.