Nearly 300 indigenous Lenca and mestizo women in Honduras' dry corridor strengthen their crop adaptation capacities to confront climate change

October 10, 2020, Honduras. The Climate-Smart Family Agriculture for Resilient Food Production Project (CSFA-RFP) being implemented in Honduras, as part of the Euroclima+ Programme, has strengthened the capacities of Lenca and Mestizo women in the dry corridor for implementing climate change mitigation measures in their production activities for coffee, livestock, basic grains, honey and for Food and Nutritional Security.

The producer María Bartola Márquez can be found in the community of Planes, Cabañas, Honduras, busy with agricultural activities in her nursery with the parainema coffee variety (drought resistant) and her plot of Brachiaria brizantha grass for the establishment of agroforestry systems and to produce silage for summer feeding.

"I'm happy with life because I'll have food for my calves in the summer when grass is scarcer. We hadn’t stored silage before, we used to throw chopped grass at them, now I already have a plot for silage. We are improving the feeding of the cattle and our practices with the support of the project,” says a content María Bartola.

At the livestock level, the CSFA-RFP Project supports them with training and technical assistance to ensure the feeding and nutrition of livestock using silage, mineral salts, cutting and grazing seed banks, as well as the implementation of silvopastoral systems, practices and measures that will contribute to reducing greenhouse gas emissions, says engineer José Luis Flores, the project's sub-coordinator.

Similarly, the project has provided each livestock association with silo presses and materials for the construction of small sheds and troughs in order to improve resilience in food production in a context of climate change. In addition, it is contributing to the Nationally Determined Contributions (NDC) prioritised in the country.

Like Doña Maria, sustainable cattle farming, and coffee. Meanwhile, in the area of Food and Nutritional Security (FNS), to date some 27 women are involved in the integrated management of family gardens, among other actions.

Maria is clearing the land for her coffee nursery of 3,000 plants with a drought-resistant variety, which will be established in an agroforestry system with an association of native tree species. “My dream has come true, I am preparing everything for planting next year, and in April I will apply organic fertiliser on my farm," she adds.

                                                                         Image of María Bartola Márquez showing her pasture.

About the project 

The Climate-Smart Family Agriculture for Resilient Food Production Project (CSFA-RFP) is part of the actions of #EUROCLIMAPlusAlimentos. It is implemented by the Dutch Development Cooperation Service (SNV) and the Association for the Integrated Management of the La Paz and Comayagua Basins in Honduras (ASOMAINCUPACO). Its strategic partner is the Centro Universitario Regional del Centro (CURC-UNAH) and the political counterpart is the Presidential Office for Climate Change (Clima+), Honduras.

CSFA-RFP promotes resilient food production with 600 families in Lenca indigenous communities and the mestizo population, under a sustainable water resource management approach in the El Venado and Chiflador Basins in Guaralape , Honduras.  

Contact:

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Judit Vanegas, Comunicación AFCI-PRA, This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.  (+505) 8510-1926