Historical Background

In late October 1998, Hurricane Mitch stalled over Honduras causing tremendous devastation. The devastation associated with Hurricane Mitch served to point out the impact that above normal amounts of rainfall can have in areas where hillsides are deforested, denuded slopes are farmed with no soil retaining practices, and riverbeds have been heavily silted. After the hurricane La Semilla del Progreso Training Center selected and trained farmer/leaders from central Honduras who continued to suffer from the erosion of their farms caused by Mitch. These persons received extensive training in agricultural practices that emphasize conserving and managing soil and water resources. See Ag Techniques > Keys to Success. Afterwards they worked to teach what they had learned to their neighbors who were trying to restore their own farms. Fortunately, the same conservation practices that protect hillsides in time of excessive rainfall also help retain what little water falls in times of drought. Drought is a frequent threat in Honduras, and 2001 was a year of severe drought in most of Central America. The staff of La Semilla del Progreso reported that the Honduran hillside farmers using the new practices of soil and water conservation they learned after Hurricane Mitch still produced crops in summer 2001, while many Honduran farmers lost everything.

Farmer/leaders graduating from a course at La Semilla Training Center show the new “A” frames they have made. These will be used on their own farms for laying out contours, the basis for many water and soil management practices.

A Program to Train Farmers in soil and water management

La Semilla del Progreso has developed a program specifically designed to train farmer/leaders in water and soil management. Program participants attend 5 day courses at the La Semilla Training Center followed by individual farm visits by La Semilla staff to each participant’s farm. Then participants return for a second course followed by more individual farm visits and group classes in the farmers’ own villages.

From 2000 through the first half of 2005, 579 farmers (men and women) completed at least one 4 to 5 day course at the La Semilla Training Center and each received follow-up visits to his or her own farm for encouragement and individual instruction. In this part of rural Honduras farm families are a large, averaging about 7 persons supported per farm. Using this number, approximately 4,053 family members have been impacted by the sustainable agricultural practices the program teaches.

Country Wide Multiplication Will Increase Long Term Impact

Laureano instructs area farmers in organic farming strategies.

La Semilla del Progreso, with its farmer-to-farmer multiplication strategy, is providing a model of teaching environmentally sustainable agriculture for the country of Honduras. In 2005 the Ministry of Agriculture and the Division of Natural Resources of the Government of Honduras presented a bill to the National Congress making the eleven agricultural Centros de Enseñanza y Aprendizaje (Centers for Teaching and Learning) the official vehicles of national agricultural extension and leaders for the promotion, certification, and marketing of organic foods. Two of the eleven Honduran CEA centers, Loma Linda and La Semilla del Progreso, are EPIC projects. Loma Linda was the first of these agricultural training centers in Honduras dedicated to helping campesinos (poor rural farmers). EPIC and the Loma Linda Training Center have worked together since the 1980’s.

Laureano Jacobo, the director of La Semilla del Progreso, serves as secretary of the national coordinating commission for the Centros de Enseñanza y Aprendizaje. He was chosen to be spokesperson for an important national meeting of CEAs with the Honduran government in September of 2005. We are pleased with this opportunity for EPIC’s agricultural programs to have impact countrywide in Honduras.

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