Honduras Orocuina & Liure
$24,612 needed of $60,000
Implementing Organization
Mennonite Central Committee (MCC)
Program Summary
Orocuina and Liure are located in the dry sector of Honduras and have some of the highest levels of poverty in the country. Crop losses from droughts, floods, prolonged heatwaves, and the proliferation of pests are common and cause many local families to experience long periods without access to food. The program supports families with trainings and workshops on community management and storage of seeds, soil conservation, pest management, and diversifying the production of vegetables and fruits.
The program supports farmers in organizing agricultural savings groups. Through these savings groups, members gain access to small loans to pursue different projects and small businesses. The program also facilitates farmer-to-farmer exchanges and a regional food security committee.
Success Stories
A Future at Home
Leaving his community in southern Honduras, Cristian spent seven long years migrating between cities, searching for work that would justify the absence from his wife, Kenci, and their three-year-old son. Despite his efforts, he could not find the stability or income required to make that separation worthwhile.
This struggle is common across Honduras’s Dry Corridor; but, Cristian’s story took a new trajectory when he decided to return home and participate in the program with local partner, CODESO.
Cristian began working on a two-acre farm with a new sense of purpose and support from CODESO. He learned to diversify his plot, planting different seeds and applying conservation agriculture techniques to improve the soil.
Today, Cristian enjoys a life defined by the peace and stability that comes from being together as a family, steady savings in an agricultural savings group, more food to eat than before, and, for the first time, an ability to take his own products to local markets. In the past, Cristian would carry packages for other employers, but now he has become a supplier to those who were once his employers.
Cristian’s family has embraced their faith and now attends church together. He is committed to working the land that has become the foundation of his family’s future and does not expect to have to leave his family again.
Honduras Orocuina & Liure is led by Mennonite Central Committee (MCC) and local partner Comite de Acción Social (CODESO)