Fintrac Forms Alliances with Educational Institutions and Input Suppliers to Sustain Agricultural Growth in Honduras

Alliance School Partners  Pompilio Ortega School of Agriculture John F. Kennedy School of Agriculture Luis Landa School of Agriculture Valle de Sula School of Agriculture House of Love and Hope School of Agriculture Luis Rigoberto Santos Technical Institute Maria del Carmen Institute Santa Cruz Technical Institute Gregorio Consuegra Institute National University of Agriculture Students receive drip irrigation training in Honduras.

LA LIMA, Honduras ― In an effort to ensure the sustainability of recent growth in the Honduran horticultural sector, Fintrac has formed alliances between ten agricultural educational institutes and ten input suppliers under the USAID-funded Rural Economic Development program (USAID-RED).  

The ten schools are located throughout Honduras, providing training in agriculture science to high school age students within each region. Most, however, have limited financial resources and training activities have been reduced to the minimum core requirements detailed in the national educational program. These constraints have prevented many from providing up-to-date training in the improved agricultural practices and technologies that rural communities desperately need to increase productivity and incomes, and reduce poverty.

The primary objective of the alliances is to increase the number of highly trained local farm technicians for micro, small and medium growers.

Some students will return to their family farms to introduce updated production technology, while others will increase the available trained labor pool for medium- and larger-scale farms.

Model open-field and greenhouse farms have been constructed at the schools, with equipment and inputs donated by private sector companies. These farms will enable the schools to provide hands-on training to students, as well as provide much needed additional income to help finance other core programs within each school. The schools will also be assisted with curriculum development, hands-on training, and train the trainer programs from Fintrac field agronomists and other technical specialists.

The alliances also include an internship program for graduates. Each year, one graduate student from each school will participate in a year-long field internship program. Interns will be assigned a region to provide regular extension services to farmers, and receive on-going extension training through a designated Fintrac field agronomist during the entire period. The USAID-RED program has financed motorcycles for the interns, and will also contribute to the costs of internship stipends and other field expenses.

The schools will additionally expand outreach through the offering of monthly field training days on the model farms, exposing local farmers to updated technologies and techniques.

The participation of private sector input suppliers is crucial to the long-term sustainability of the alliances. Private sector input suppliers have benefited significantly from Fintrac activities within Honduras over the last six years. As small client farmers adopt improved production practices and techniques, sales of hybrid seeds, irrigation equipment, and other inputs have increased dramatically. As a result, small farmers are now seen by many input suppliers as the largest untapped market for their products. Continued growth in the sector is therefore of real interest to forward-thinking input suppliers. To date, ten private sector partners are participating in the new alliances with donations of inputs and equipment for demonstration farms. These include suppliers of hybrid seeds and other planting materieals (Seminis, Remagro and Pantzela), irrigation equipment (Amanco, Camosa and Druman), fertilizers (Fenorsa), and fumigation equipment and other inputs and equipment (Seagro, Marketing Arm International and Crop Life Honduras). Other input and equipment suppliers have already expressed an interest in joining the program.

The alliances are being funded by all partners: 43 percent from the USAID-RED project, 36 percent from private-sector input suppliers and 21 percent from the schools.  

“Everyone wins,” said Andy Medlicott, Fintrac’s Director of the USAID-RED Program. “The schools are going to get good technical assistance and training and exposure to new production practices, private sector input and equipment suppliers’ sales will increase, and growers near the model farms will also benefit.”