Food Security

Between 62% and 75% of farming families in the Lempira, Comayagua, and Santa Barbara departments in western Honduras experience food insecurity,21 a major driver of out-migration in recent years. IAF grantee Programa de Reconstrucción Rural (PRR) has helped 37 farmer groups improve their food security through better cultivation techniques and access to droughtresistant native corn and bean seeds, benefiting around 4,500 people. Through sales, informal exchanges, and seed fairs, their resilient high-yield seeds have reached 25,000 people. In Santa Barbara, PRR participants have increased their corn and bean yields by 50% and reduced postharvest loss by 30%. With improved drying and storage systems, farmers now have access to corn and beans an additional four months out of the year and can choose to sell when prices are higher. After strengthening their business skills with PRR, farmer groups can offer farmers a higher and more stable price than intermediaries, so farmers prefer to sell to these farmer groups. Farmer incomes have increased, which motivates families to stay in their communities. Despite devastating economic setbacks from COVID-19 and Hurricanes Eta and Iota, groups supported by PRR used reserves to provide emergency food aid to 550 of the most vulnerable families and maintained fair prices while other suppliers raised food prices. In rural western El Salvador, 46–60% of families are experiencing food insecurity.22 IAF grantee Asociación Agropecuaria de Mujeres Produciendo en la Tierra (AMSATI) prepares women to build viable businesses, assume community leadership roles, and contribute to their families’ food security through home gardens. Eighty-seven women have earned income for the first time and gained leadership and business skills such as accounting and marketing by joining AMSATI committees. One committee crosses gang-dominated territories to sell chickens, requiring the women to develop advanced negotiation skills. The women have increased their family income by 20–30% on average and reinvested their profits into their small but growing businesses. Working with AMSATI extends women’s support networks, a factor critical to navigating food insecurity. They have also begun engaging in local development efforts that directly affect them. Some women have facilitated municipal human rights committees in Sonsonate, while others are participating in a national program that addresses land titling and regional development plans. Finally, women from 46 families have learned to produce food sustainably and have diversified and increased their families’ consumption of healthy food. With additional income from their gardens, women are also purchasing school materials for their children.

PRR, Honduras