UNDP releases new paper: Climate Risk Management for Smallholder Agriculture in Honduras

Marius Keller, UNDP, 2013.

Agriculture is one of the most important economic sectors in Honduras, where rural poverty is high and food security fragile. 

One-third of Hondurans live on smallholder farms and grow staple crops such as maize and beans, the yields from which are stagnating. 

Download the full paper here.

Climate hazards such as hurricanes, floods and droughts already damage crops and infrastructure, leading to income loss and food insecurity. Climate change will exacerbate this situation by putting additional stress on water resources, resulting in substantial yield reductions. 

The capacity of smallholders to adapt to this additional stress is limited due to low levels of income and education and to environmental degradation. 

The UNDP’s Climate Risk Management Technical Assistance Support Project identified a range of climate risk management interventions to support smallholder agriculture in Honduras, including improved local governance and social organization, strengthened territorial planning, the implementation of more sustainable agricultural practices, better access to finance and insurance, climate-proofing infrastructure, strengthened climate data management, and associated capacity development.