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Agroecology

Report From The Field: Honduras

By: Chandi Guntupalli

As Groundswell International’s newest staff member, I had the privilege of doing my first field visit to our partners in March 2022, along with our Executive Director and co-founder Steve Brescia. Steve and I traveled to Honduras at the end of March 2022 for five days to meet with our partner, Vecinos Honduras, to discuss our plans for the Central American Dry Corridor. 

honduras

The Central American Dry Corridor is one of the most vulnerable parts of the world, one that’s been highly affected by climate change. This region extends throughout El Salvador, Honduras, Guatemala, and Nicaragua, with Honduras and Guatemala experiencing extreme drought. Many people in the Central American Dry Corridor live in rural areas and live in poverty, forced to depend on grain crops for sustenance and survival. 

This was my first time in Honduras and my first time in Central America. I was excited to travel to a country I had never been to, and I was grateful to travel again internationally since COVID-19. Little did I know that this trip was going to be one of the most impactful experiences I’ve had in the past few years.

honduras

Since our purpose was to discuss our strategy to support Vecinos Honduras in its plan for the Central American Dry Corridor, we went straight to the region after we landed in Honduras. Staying in Nacaome, in the southern part of Honduras, allowed us to visit a regional office of Vecinos Honduras to learn how their services and programs differ based on the needs of the community. Over the next few days, we traveled to various municipalities in the region to meet with farmer community leaders and local organizations making a difference. This was absolutely my favorite part of the trip – to meet with the farmers and their families that we support through our work. They were incredibly gracious, allowing us into their homes and serving us lunch from the crops of their farms – this was literally a farm-to-table experience. Interacting with and learning from the farmers was a humbling experience to learn about the impact of our work and also realize how much further we need to go. 

honduras

At first, I felt out of place and out of my element in Honduras, not speaking the language and not having traveled to that region of the world. Through, sharing my experiences with the farmers and learning from their experiences, I felt a kinship in that as humans we really have the same goals – for our families to be safe, healthy, and happy. There is much to do in that region, in order to ensure each family is nourished, and I’m proud to be part of a community that is working towards that goal.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR: Chandana Guntupalli is Groundswell’s Donor Relations Manager. She has over six years of experience in non-profit development supporting programs focused on domestic violence, transitional housing, anti-bias education, and youth civic engagement. She has a Bachelor’s in Psychology and Philosophy from Michigan State University and a Master’s in Peace and Conflict Studies from Rutgers-Newark. She is excited about the community development and empowerment that Groundswell develops for farmers across the world.

The Dry Corridor in Crisis

The Dry Corridor in Crisis

The Dry Corridor of Central America is in crisis. Extreme environmental degradation, increasingly unpredictable rainfall due to Climate Change, recurrent droughts, flooding, and other natural disasters threaten the lives and livelihoods of more than 10 million people living in this ecologically fragile region. 

Dry Corridor in Crisis statistics
Central America in Crisis
Honduras land crisis
Agroecology +6
Agroecology in the Dry Corridor

AE+6 has proven to be an effective system for innovation and the spread of resilient agroecological practices through farmer experimentation and farmer-to-farmer learning. It is a hyper-efficient alternative to the conventional top-down, transfer of technology for scaling, and it also explicitly incorporates strategies to integrate gender, equity, and nutrition, which frequently are lacking in agriculture projects. Since 2016, in coordination with local governments, technical agencies, farmers’ organizations, and other local NGOs, Groundswell has used AE+6 to enable almost 40,000 smallholder farm households to improve their food security and resilience. 

More than a dozen case studies and policy briefs document the transformation of farming in the Sahel using AE+6.

Groundswell International exists to catalyze the transition from unsustainable conventional agriculture to ecologically-sound farming and food systems that regenerate the natural resource base, strengthen resilience to climate change, and restore local economies. Our work with smallholder farmers in developing countries enables them to address the root causes of environmental degradation, food insecurity, and economic vulnerability with a practical, “learning by doing” approach that builds their confidence while meeting their basic needs. We are eager to expand our work in the Dry Corridor to help end the hopeless downward spiral that too many farming families face. 

With a little help, small-scale farmers can become the protagonists of their own development and lead an agroecological revolution that can transform the landscape and bring health and well-being to one of the world’s most ecologically fragile and marginalized regions.

Chris Sacco, Director of Program Management and is a co-founder of Groundswell, recently wrote an in-depth analysis of the crisis in the Dry Corridor. He examines why the situation is so dire and what we can do to help navigate farmers through these challenges, how agroecology helps farmers help themselves, and why sustainability practices in this region matter for the rest of the planet. You can read the full article on LinkedIn.

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