Country profile

Honduras      New Zealand Capital Tegucigalpa Wellington Population 7.2 million 4.1 million Official language/s Spanish English and Maori Per capita income US$1,190 US$27,250 NZ$1=US$0.70 NZ$1,624 NZ$38,928 Life expectancy 68 years 80 years Under 5 mortality rate 40/1000 5/1000 Adult literacy 80% 99% (Source: UNICEF The State of the World's Children 2008)

People
Ninety per cent of the country’s population is mestizo (a mixture of Spanish and indigenous peoples). Other significant groups include indigenous peoples, those of West Indian origin and Garifuna (Black Caribs). Most people speak Spanish, but in traditional communities indigenous dialects are spoken, and English and Carib are common along the Caribbean coast.

Roman Catholicism is the main religion. Indigenous tribes follow their own traditional religions.

History
First signs of human settlement in the area date back to 1700 BC, but it wasn’t until the Mayan Empire, 250-900AD, that civilization reached its peak. In 1525 the first Spanish settlement was founded. Honduras declared independence in 1838.

The military maintained a hold on power in Honduras from the 1950s until the 1980s, interrupted by numerous coups and rebellions. In 1982, international pressure to return to democratic rule motivated the country to inaugurate a civilian government.

In 2003 Honduras’ government was widely criticised by the international community about extra-judicial murders of street children by security forces in the preceding five years. Laws have been enacted to curb these and other crimes.

Geography
Three-quarters of the country is made up of hills and mountains, the highest is Cerros de las Minas at 2,850m. A small amount of flat land is found on the coasts.

The climate is generally tropical. For most of the country the rainy season is between May and October, while on the Caribbean coast it rains year round. Drought is common in the south.

Economy
Through the first half of the 20th century, export of bananas to the USA was key to Honduras’ economic livelihood. By 1913 three US fruit companies owned 75 per cent of all Honduran banana groves.

The country’s traditional dependence on its two major exports, bananas and coffee, has made the economy vulnerable to fluctuating prices on global markets. Bananas remained an important export until the 1990s, but the significance of these and other agricultural products, including pineapple, sugar, shrimp and lobster, is declining.

Agriculture
Around half the population live in rural areas, however less than one tenth of the land can be farmed. Agriculture, fishing and forestry employ 31 per cent of the labour force. People grow foods such as corn, beans and maize for their own use.

Education
In urban areas, school enrolment is almost universal, but in rural areas approximately one quarter of children do not have access to primary education. High repetition and dropout rates reflect the poor quality of education – around 20 per cent repeat grade one and about 40 per cent do not complete primary school. Only 37 per cent of girls and 29 per cent of boys go on to secondary school.

Health
Malnutrition, diarrhoea, typhoid, malaria, chagas disease, dengue fever and respiratory infections such as pneumonia are common. HIV/AIDS is becoming more prevalent - approximately 60 per cent of all Central American HIV cases are located in Honduras and more than half of these are in Tegucigalpa. Social problems such as drug addiction, alcoholism and domestic violence place added strain on health services.

Most doctors and hospitals are located in the cities, and treatment and travel costs make seeking professional medical help too expensive for many families.

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Honduras COUNTRY UPDATE

THE NEXT STEP

“Clearly, expanding market access can have a positive impact on poverty reduction.”
Joao Diniz, World Vision Brazil Economic Development Director

In Honduras, World Vision New Zealand is helping farmers address these kinds of difficulties and so increase their incomes.

Between January 2005 and September 2007, a project match-funded by the New Zealand Government worked with farmers in Concepcion, to construct micro irrigation dams. Along with providing water, the project promoted alternative, nutritious crops such as jicama (a root vegetable like a turnip) and other vegetables, to make best use of the new systems.

This project was very successful in providing water and increasing harvests. So successful, in fact, that during the end-of-project evaluation, farmers reported they would now like training to help them sell their produce and run sustainable businesses.

A second phase of the project has been set up to meet these needs. World Vision now teaches the farmers marketing, small-business management, farm planning and environmentally friendly pest management. It establishes associations to help them market their produce and assists them to access credit services.

A similar project, also match-funded by the New Zealand Government, is underway in Nueva Vision. There, World Vision is helping farmers establish cashew orchards on deforested hills. The high-value, drought-resistant cashew nuts provide an alternative source of income. To ensure the future sustainablilty of cashews as a source of income, the project is establishing nurseries, providing technical support, strengthening producer organisations, developing a marketing system and studying the potential for processing the cashew apples. This project integrates increases in production with research into what the market wants and training on how to meet those demands.

By helping farmers increase production and assisting them to sell their crops, World Vision is creating sustainable systems that will continue to improve the wellbeing of children in Concepcion and Nueva Vision.