Honduras News - Daily News about Honduras

At the border with Guatemala, Honduran growers threw away hundreds of onions. Overproduction is causing a huge damage for producers at the regions of La Labor, Sensenti and Ocotepeque

“We are throwing away onions; we can’t find markets for them. If onions from Guatemala continue being imported, it is going to kill our production (…) government has to support us”, declared Luis Bú, grower at Ocotepeque.

[Read more →]

Central American leaders said Wednesday that trade with U.S. is fueling steady growth in their region but they must forge closer ties with each other and Europe.

Salvadoran President Tony Saca, a close U.S. ally, warned that a recession in the United States could temper growth on the isthmus.

“We have to see Central America as a bloc,” Saca told a panel at the World Economic Forum on Latin America in Cancun.

He and other officials said they will work to boost infrastructure and commerce in the region.

[Read more →]

Honduras launched a $119 million plan on Tuesday to ramp up agricultural output this year to mitigate rising food prices.
Agriculture Minister Hector Hernandez said Honduras aims to increase annual corn production by almost a third to up to 23 million 100-pound (46-kg) bags this year, compared to 2007.
The government also hopes to lift bean production slightly to 2 million 100-pound bags in 2008.
The government aims to give soft loans to farmers to increase production and subsidize farm insurance payments, help with fertilizers and build more food warehouses.
“We are going to provide a grant to the 250,000 poorest farmers so that these people and their families can produce, be self-sufficient and even sell their crops and not fall victim to grain shortages,” Hernandez told reporters.
The United Nations says low-income, food-importing countries such as Honduras are particularly vulnerable to a global rise in food prices.
Corn tortillas and beans are the staple diet for Honduras’ 7.5 million citizens, who often face food shortages due to droughts, fluctuations in world food markets and distribution problems.
Increased food demand from rapidly developing countries such as China and India, the use of biofuels, high oil prices, global stocks at 25-year lows and market speculation are all blamed for pushing prices of staples like wheat, maize and rice to record highs around the globe.

[Read more →]

Nicaraguan President Daniel Ortega and his Honduran counterpart Manuel Zelaya signed a joint declaration Friday in Honduras’ capital Tegucigalpa to strengthen bilateral relations.

In the declaration, Zelaya and Ortega expressed their willingness to improve cooperation on various issues such as environment, energy and their border delimitation on the Caribbean sea, according to reports from Tegucigalpa.

They said the two countries are currently enjoying sound political relations that have reached a historical high.

Ortega arrived in Honduras Friday for a brief visit.

The two presidents had their picture taken in the cockpit of anF-5 plane to symbolize their countries’ current peaceful relations.

[Read more →]