1.2.4.- Honduras

Figure 1.5   Country map Honduras.

1.2.4.1.- General facts

Official name: Republic of Honduras           

Capital: Tegucigalpa

Name
It is told that Columbus spoke the words: “Gracias a Dios que hemos salido de esas honduras”, meaning “Thank God we have come out of those depths”, while along the north-eastern coast of Honduras.

Time
Six hours behind Greenwich Mean Time (GMT -6)
The Netherlands: daylight saving time = GMT +2, winter-time = GMT +1

1.2.4.2.- Geography

Location
Honduras is located on the Central American isthmus and lies between 13°00'-16°30'northern latitude and 83°00'-89°30' western longitude.

Borders
The Caribbean Sea (735 km) to the north, The Pacific Ocean at the Golfo de Fonsecato (153 km) to the south, El Salvador (342 km) to the southwest, Nicaragua (922 km) to the southeast, and Guatemala (256 km) to the west.

Area
112,492 km2 (111,292 km2 of land and 200 km2 of water)

Altitude
The lowest altitude in the country is the Caribbean Sea at sea level, the highest point is Cerro Las Minas, a volcanic mountain, with an elevation of 2,870m. The capital Tegucigalpa has an altitude of 1,004m.

Characterization
Honduras has three distinct topographical regions: an extensive interior highland area and two narrow coastal lowlands. The interior, which constitutes approximately 80% of the country's terrain, is mountainous. The larger Caribbean lowlands in the north and the Pacific lowlands bordering the Golfo de Fonseca are characterized by alluvial plains.
The interior highland mountain areas are home to the majority of the population. Because the rough terrain has made the land difficult to traverse and equally difficult to cultivate, this area has not been highly developed. The soil here is poor as Honduras lacks the rich volcanic ash found in other Central American countries. In the west, Honduran mountains blend into the mountain ranges of Guatemala, with the highest peak in Honduras of the Cerro Las Minas (2,870m). In the east, the mountains merge with those in Nicaragua. A mountain pass splits the country's mountain ranges into eastern and western parts and provides a relatively easy transportation route across the isthmus as it runs from the Caribbean Sea to the Golfo de Fonseca. Several planes (300m to 900m in elevation) can be found in the area. The large valleys are suitable for livestock and, in some cases, commercial agriculture. Villages and towns, including the capital, Tegucigalpa, are located in the larger valleys.
The central part of the Caribbean lowlands, east of La Ceiba, is a narrow coastal plain only a few kilometres wide. To the east and west of this section the Caribbean lowlands widen and in places extend inland a considerable distance along broad river valleys. The broadest river valley, along the Río Ulúa near the Guatemalan border, is Honduras’s most developed area. Both Puerto Cortés, the country's largest port, and San Pedro Sula, Honduras industrial capital, are located here, as is La Ceiba, the third largest city in the country. To the east, near the Nicaraguan border, the Caribbean lowlands broaden to an extensive area known as the Mosquitia. This is Honduras least-developed area. The smallest physiographic region of Honduras, the Pacific lowlands, is a strip of land averaging twenty-five kilometres wide on the north shore of the Golfo de Fonseca. The land is flat and is composed mostly of alluvial soils washed down from the mountains. Honduras controls a number of small islands in the Caribbean Sea and the Golfo de Fonseca, as part of its offshore territories.

1.2.4.3.- Recent history

During the late 19th century Honduras’s agriculturally based economy came to be dominated by U.S. companies, i.e. United Fruit Company (Chiquita) and Standard Fruit Company (Dole), which established vast banana plantations along the north coast. In 1929 Honduras became the world’s largest banana exporter. In the first half of the 20th century an unequal relationship existed between the fruit companies and the state, with the fruit companies intervening in domestic politics. This development was entitled with the term ‘banana republic’. During these years General Tiburcio Carías controlled Honduras. His ties to dictators in neighbouring countries and to the U.S. banana companies helped him maintain power until 1948. In July 1969, Honduras was invaded by El Salvador in the short Football war. Tensions in the aftermath of the conflict still remain.
Honduras returned to civilian rule in 1981 when general elections were held. A new constitution was approved in 1982 and the PL government of Roberto Suazo assumed power. The decade was marked by a debt crisis in 1982 and the US-funded Contra war in Nicaragua. Honduras received considerable economic and military aid from the U.S., as it agreed to become a base for Nicaraguan Contras, providing logistical and intelligence support, and joining the U.S. military in joint manoeuvres.
In 1998 Carlos Flores Facussé (PL) took presidency. Flores inaugurated International Monetary Fund (IMF) programs of reform and modernization of the Honduran Government and economy, with emphasis on maintaining the country's fiscal health and improving international competitiveness. In October 1998, Hurricane Mitch devastated Honduras. Infrastructure was severely damaged and almost all productive sectors were affected, with agriculture suffering the most. Reconstruction was financed by a mixture of multilateral concessional loans and donations.
In 2002 Ricardo Maduro Joest (PN) began his four-year presidential term. One of his campaign promises was to reduce violence crime and subsequently increased military and police presence throughout the country. Non-violent street crime was reduced, but the murder rate continued to rise. The government’s anti-crime strategy came under strong criticism from human rights organization, which accused members of the security services of carrying out extra-judicial killings, targeting street children and young gang members. Maduro also promised to fight corruption. However, although his administration passed legislation aimed at increasing transparency and accountability in public office, a series of corruption scandals during his presidency overshadowed these efforts. Maduro’s main legacy lay in the economic field, where sound economic policies contributed to an improvement in macroeconomic fundamentals: the pace of economic growth picked up, inflation remained under control and the fiscal deficit narrowed. In addition, in 2005 Honduras reached the so-called completion point under the HIPC initiative, which led to promised debt relief over a ten-year period, with the resulting freed resources to be used to finance Honduras’s poverty-reduction program.
In 2006 the current president, Manuel Zelay Rosales (PL) took office.

1.2.4.4.- Social aspects

Population

Development
Human Development Index (HDI):  0.683 (rank 117) (2006)
Human Poverty Index (HPI-1):  17.2% (rank 37) (2006)  (See Appendix C, table c.1)

Working Population
Unemployment rate : 27.9% (2006 est.)
Composition : 34% agriculture; 23% Industry, 43% services (2003 est.)

Immigration / emigration
Since 1975, emigration from Honduras has accelerated as job-seekers and political refugees sought a better life elsewhere. Although many Hondurans have relatives in Nicaragua, Spain, Mexico, El Salvador and Canada, the majority of Hondurans living abroad are in the United States. Family remittances are the largest generator of foreign-exchange earnings in Honduras.

Social stability
Honduras has a highly unionized workforce and industrial action is common. Most large-scale strikes and demonstrations pass off peacefully, but the risk of mass protest turning to violence and disrupting business operations remains high. Both the previous government and the present administration of Mr. Zelaya have had to face transport strikes resulting from rising fuel prices, strikes that temporarily paralyzed commercial and administrative activities in Tegucigalpa.

1.2.4.5.- Safety

Crime levels in Honduras are extremely high. Especially homicides rates are still increasing. Street gangs (‘maras’), are responsible for an increasing amount of crime, and are often linked to drug trafficking. Mr. Zelaya’s electoral campaign laid considerable emphasis on the promise of a more comprehensive approach to combat crime, taking into account the social conditions that foster criminality. However, the initial security measures introduced by the government focused on a more traditional approach to crime prevention, including plans for increase additional police each year during the current government’s mandate. The government also plans to reform the Ley Orgánica de la Policía Nacional (National Police Force Law), a move that is said could result in the militarization of the police force.
Drug-smuggling, especially cocaine-trafficking, dominates the organised crime scene (as it does elsewhere in Central America). Drug-related organised crime, while on the increase, does not pose an immediate threat to business, however kidnapping and corruption are of greater concern in this view.

1.2.4.6.- Political aspects

Form of state
Unitary republic

Constitution
Honduras present constitution came into effect in 1982, after Honduras had ended ten years of military rule with the inauguration of civilian president Roberto Suazo Cordova.

Executive power
The executive power is formed by the president, which is elected for a single non-renewable four year period by universal adult suffrage. He is supported by three vice-presidents. The president is head of state and government and appoints the cabinet of ministers. Furthermore the president appoints the governors of the eighteen departments of Honduras.

Legislative power
The legislative power is formed by a 128 member National Congress, individual members of which, along with a substitute member, represent 46,000 voters. The congressional elections take place on the same day as the presidential elections, on the basis of universal adult suffrage.

Judiciary power
Judiciary power is exercised by the Supreme Court, consisting of 15 judges, which is at the apex of the legal system. The members of the Supreme Court are selected by a panel comprising lawyers, parliamentarians and representatives of civil society (2002 reform; previously appointments had been made by politicians only). Supreme Court judges serve seven-year terms.

Main political parties
Government: Partido Liberal (PL)
Opposition: Partido Nacional (PN); Partido de Innovación Nacional y Unidad-Social
Demócrata (PINU-SD); Partido Demócrata Cristiano (PDC); Partido de Unificación
Democrática (PUD).

Political stability
Political stability and absence of violence indicator (PV): -0.78 (2005)
(See Appendix A, table a.1)
Honduras has had sporadic conflicts with two of its neighbours. Diplomatic spats flare up periodically with El Salvador and Nicaragua, usually over the Gulf of Fonseca, which the three countries share.

Effectiveness
Government effectiveness indicator (GE) : -0.64 (2005)
Regulatory quality indicator (RQ) : -0.44 (2005)
(See Appendix A, table a.2)

Corruption
Control of corruption indicator (CC) :  -0.67 (2005)
Corruption Perception index (CPI) :  2.5 (rank 121) (2006)
(See Appendix A, table a.3 and Appendix B, table b.1)

1.2.4.7.- Economic aspects

Currency
The Honduras currency is the Lempira (La), for exchange rate see table 1.10.

Developments
Honduras’s economy is one of the least developed in Latin America. Industrial development has been limited and historically the economy has been dependent on banana and coffee exports. Economic performance has been closely related to fluctuations in international prices of these export products.
Since the 1990s the economy has diversified, with the development of non-traditional exports such as shrimps, melon, African palm oil, manufacturer’s activities and tourism. By 1998 it was forecasted that the economy would reach a considerable growth, however the effects of Hurricane Mitch reduced the expected growth. Agriculture was the sector worst affected by the storm.
Nevertheless, the economy has recovered rather well after the hurricane in 1998. Economic performance is now mostly determined by the dynamism of external demand, particularly that of the U.S. economy due to the increasing importance of the manufacturers, and the rapid growth since 1999 of remittances from Hondurans living abroad.
New investment incentives aimed at attracting foreign investment have been introduced. The strategy has mainly been successful for manufacturers. The sector is the second largest single generator of foreign-exchange earnings after family remittances (remesas). Agriculture remains an important sector in Honduras, accounting for 13.9% of GDP, around 39% of the jobs and over 50% of all merchandise export earnings.

Foreign investment
Traditionally, Honduras has and FDI-driven economy, with the USA taking the major share of FDI in Honduras. Foreign investment is generally accorded the same rights as domestic investment and restrictions and local content requirements are fairly limited. Rather than by any specific regulation, in practice Honduras investment climate is mainly afflicted by the general problems affecting the country: high levels of crime, weak judicial and administrative systems, high levels of corruption, low educational levels, a troubled financial sector, poor infrastructure, land tenure insecurity, and inadequate regulatory framework.
Firms are frequently victimized by crime, which increases the cost of doing business. Transport losses account for about one-third of total quantifiable losses due to infrastructure. Honduran firms suffer from frequent, lengthy power outages, often wait six months to a year to establish a telephone connection and frequently suffer interruptions. Internet is not a common means of communication for Honduran firms, especially micro, small and medium enterprises. The Government has already begun opening parts of the power, telecom and transportation sectors to private competition but a lot remains to be done for improving the reliability of the infrastructure and meeting growing demand for electricity, communications and transportation.
FDI in 2006 amounted US$ 385 million, plus about US$ 110 million for the manufacturer’s sector. Within manufacturer operations, investment is concentrated in the textiles sector and is mainly from the US. The EU is the third most important investor in Honduras. During the period 2000 – 2005 European countries participated with an average share of 20% on total FDI flows.

Free trade zones
The principal free trade zone in Honduras is located in Puerto Cortes and is operated by the Government of Honduras through the National Port Authority.
At the moment there are 8 Free Trade Zones (‘Zona Franca’) located in Honduras:

Villanueva Industrial Park, ZIP Búfalo, ZIP Buena Vista, ZIP Calpules, ZIP Comayagua, ZIP El Porvernir, ZIP INHDELVA y ZIP San Jose Industrial Park.

(For more information: http://zonasfrancas.net/zonas.php) and (http://www.ahm-honduras.com/html/datos/2005.pdf)

DR-CAFTA
The DR-CAFTA came into force in Honduras at the beginning of 2006. The agreement makes permanent the benefits of duty-free access to the US market and is expected to attract new foreign investment to Honduras, particularly in export oriented sectors.
The specific results for the Honduran agricultural sector are the increase of the quota for sugar and milk products and the duty-free access of certain vegetables all year round (INFOAGRO, October 2005).

Regional development
Economic activity and the provision of basic services in Honduras are somewhat scattered, but in favour of the two main cities of Tegucigalpa in the interior and San Pedro Sula in the north, as well as the regions of intensive agriculture along the north coast. San Pedro Sula is the industrial heart of the country, with almost all of the manufacturer’s industry based there. Its proximity to Puerto Cortés, Central America’s busiest commercial port, facilitates the transport of goods destined for export to the US. Some northern cities, such as La Ceiba and Trujillo, have grown as a result of developments in the agriculture and fishing, and tourism sectors. Agricultural areas in the central valleys have also benefited from the government’s export-promotion policies. However, other areas have suffered and many remote regions are still without basic services. In these regions, a lack of development in roads, schools, health centres and other basic services is a source of frustration for locals, and indigenous groups have made pilgrimages to the capital to protest at the paucity of investment.

1.2.4.8.- Fiscal aspects

Tax system
The former administration of Ricardo Maduro (2002–06) dedicated a respectable amount of resources to reforming the much-maligned Honduran tax system. Efforts included simplifying the system, lowering direct tax rates, increasing indirect taxes and broadening the tax base.

1.2.4.9.- Invesment capital

Availability and capital guarantees
The poor health of the Honduran banking system is reflected in Table 1.10. Compared to neighbouring countries, Honduras’s banking system stands out as having the highest share of non-performing loans and least amount of provisioning. Also, the system’s administrative costs are among the highest in the region, while its profitability is among the lowest. In 2004 four laws were approved that’s should strengthen the financial sector by increasing the supervision on the banking system.

Interest rates
Lending rate: 18.8%
Deposit rate: 10.9% (2005)

1.2.4.10.- Infraestructure and communication

Roads
The road network in Honduras comprises 13,720 km of primary, secondary and municipal roads, and connects the major harbours, airports and cities. Only about 20% of the road network is paved, but in general the roads are well maintained.
Due to hurricane Mitch in 1998 a large part of the existing road infrastructure was damaged. By means of international funding, the larger part of the most important roads was repaired.
The two most important roads are the north-south highway connecting the capital Tegucigalpa with San Pedro Sula, and the Pan-American highway running parallel to the Pacific coast, which connects Honduras with Nicaragua and El Salvador.
In 2003 the Central American Bank of Economic Integration (CABEI) granted a loan to the government for the completion of a highway between Puerto Cortés and the Guatemalan border. Under the Maduro administration central roads were enlarged and others were paved as part of the Plan Puebla-Panama, which aims to improve the network of roads that connects Central America and Mexico. The DR-CAFTA is also expected to attract investment for the construction of the long-awaited inter-oceanic road, which would connect Puerto Cortés on the Atlantic coast with ports on the Pacific side.

Airports
Honduras has four international airports, located in Tegucigalpa, San Pedro Sula, Roatan and La Ceiba. Daily there are several direct international passengers and cargo connections to locations within and outside the region. In the month of April often (illegally lighted) forest fires occur near Tegucigalpa, which sometimes makes it impossible for airplanes to land due to the smoke production.
The largest airport is San Pedro Sula, which transports more than half of all international passengers in Honduras and 90 percent of air freight, most of which is associated with the manufacturer’s industry. It has been growing rapidly in recent years, while the second largest airport, Tegucigalpa, has been experiencing modest passenger growth and declining freight traffic.
In 2000 the government awarded a 20-year concession for the operation of the country’s four international airports to a US-Honduran consortium, Interairports, led by San Francisco International Airport (SFIA). However, failure to fulfil its investment commitments led to Interairports being taken over in September 2005 by Bamer, a Honduran group, only for it to be sold three months later to Terra, another Honduran consortium.

Harbours
Honduras has harbours both on the Pacific and Caribbean coast. The Empresa Nacional Portuaria (ENP), the national harbour authority of Honduras (established in 1965), is an autonomous government institution responsible for the management and maintenance of the harbour facilities.
Puerto Cortés on the Atlantic coast is the largest harbour in Honduras, and the second largest in Central America. It manages about 90 percent of Honduras’s total maritime traffic. Except from the cargo destined for Honduras, the harbour processes also cargo for El Salvador and Nicaragua. Puerto Cortés is located 35 km from San Pedro Sula and commands advanced harbour facilities. New plans are made to further modernise the harbour. The connection between the harbour and the road network is good. Puerto Cortés was the first port in Central America to join the Container Security Initiative (CSI) promoted by the US government. Since the end of 2005 Honduras has been included in this initiative, which aims to reduce the terrorist threat to containerised shipping.
Other harbours of Honduras (i.e. Castilla (Caribbean), La Ceiba (Caribbean) and San Lorenzo (Pacific)), also process cargo, but on a far smaller scale.
In general the quality of ports services in Honduras is very poor and their productivity is low by international standards. In Puerto Cortés, for example, container ships lie idle 22 percent of the time spent in port, compared to an international standard of 5 percent. Freight management is equally inefficient: general cargo is moved at the rate of 24-55 tons per hour, versus an the international standard of 90 tons per hour, while dry cargo in bags moves at 89 tons per hour versus the international standards of 1,000 tons per hour.

Railroads
Railroads in Honduras were built in late 19th and early 20th centuries by two competing U.S. corporations, i.e. United Fruit (Tela Railroad Company) and Standard Fruit (later nationalized). All were in the Caribbean coastal area and never reached the capital. In 1993, the combined network comprised 785 km. At present only three separate segments remain in operation under the management of the Ferrocarril Nacional de Honduras (FNH), the national railways of Honduras, namely the line San Pedro Sula – Puerto Cortes (50 km, cargo), the city rail in La Ceiba (3 km, passengers) and the line La Unión – Parque Nacional Cuero y Salado (9 km, cargo and passengers).

Telephone
Telephone mainlines : 53 /1,000 people (2006)
Cellular subscribers : 100 /1,000 people (2006)
The state telecommunications company, the Empresa Hondureña de Telecomunicaciones (Hondutel), expanded the number of fixed lines substantially from 1990 to 2005. In September 2003 the Plan Telefonía para Todos (telephony for all) was introduced, allowing private sub-operators to provide fixed lines in order to increase the coverage. As a result, 38 sub operators entered the market, helping to boost the number of fixed lines. However, fixed-line rates are still far below the Central American average.
Despite the failure of successive governments to privatise Hondutel, the telecoms market has experienced a de facto liberalisation through the expansion of mobile telecommunications. There are two mobile-phone operators, Tigo and CLARO. The former has 30% of the total of active lines while the latter has 70%. In August 2006 Hondutel entered the mobile telecoms market, increasing competition in the sector.

Internet
Internet users: 32 /1,000 people (2006)
Internet is offered by different providers. Hardly 3.6% of the Hondurans has internet access. The problem is the costs and for the great majority of the Hondurans it is still a luxury product to have internet access at home. 

Electricity
The energy sector was opened up to private participants in the generation segment, but not in transmission or distribution.  The Empresa Nacional de Energía Eléctrica (ENEE), the national governmental electricity company, distributes 97% of the energy. The remaining 3% is distributed by industrial companies, which generate electricity themselves. About 57 % is generated by thermal power stations (9), mostly private, and 40% by state owned hydro-electric power stations (5).
Access to electricity services increased rapidly over the last decade, from 33% in 1989
to 62% in 2003, which approaches the coverage indicators achieved in Guatemala and El Salvador (70 percent). The distribution of access to electricity across income groups is very uneven, however. While 93 percent of households in the richest quintile are connected to the electricity network, only 25 percent of households in the lowest quintile are hooked up.
Although the price of electricity in Honduras is close to that charged in other Central American countries, the quality of service is less satisfactory, as firms often experience long and costly power outages.

1.2.4.11.- International trade agreements

Multilateral Agreements

Customs Union

Free Trade Agreements

Partial Preferential Agreements

(For more information: http://www.sice.oas.org/ctyindex/HND/HNDagreements_e.asp)

1.2.4.12.- Labour

Availability
Honduras suffers from an overabundance of unskilled and uneducated labourers. Both unskilled and skilled labour is available in Honduras although there is strong competition with the manufacturing sector. 

Quality
Basic schooling for children between the ages of six and 14 years is free and compulsory; secondary school and technical education for those aged 15 years and over is free, but not compulsory. School enrolment at primary school is high (97%), although this figure is thought to conceal the fact that most children are older than the primary school age group. By contrast, School enrolment at secondary school is relatively low (33%).
Following his 2005 election victory, the new president, José Manuel Zelaya Rosales, fulfilled one of his central election campaign promises when he implemented free enrolment for students at state schools (previously each student had to pay to an enrolment fee at school at the beginning of each year). The measure covers public schooling at all levels (pre-school, primary and secondary).
Honduras has several vocational training programmes in mechanics, electronics and other technical fields. There are ten university-level institutions, the largest of which is the Universidad Nacional Autónoma de Honduras (UNAH).
Honduras has a private US university called Zamorano Agricultural University. This university is a well known agricultural education institute in Latin America. Their program is aimed at satisfying the changing demands of the current and future professional market, in as much as it adjusts dynamically in response to new requirements in production and agro industrialization processes and in modern sustainable commerce, in accordance with the conditions of an increasingly global market and the fundamental need to constantly improve the level of social and economic development of the region. The new engineering program offered are in the areas: Food Agro industry, Agricultural Science and Production, Socioeconomic Development and Environment, and Agribusiness Management (www.zamorano.edu).
Although some advances have been made in recent years in primary education, deficiencies in the education system exist in terms of its quality, efficiency and equity, and public spending in education remains low by international standards.

Minimum wages

The minimum wages in Honduras are given in the table below. 

Labour unions
Honduras has long been heavily unionized. In 1993 approximately 15 to 20 percent of the overall formal work force was represented by some type of union, and about 40 percent of urban workers were union members.

Public holiday
January 1st, Maundy Thursday, Good Friday, April 14th, May 1st, September 15th
(Independence Day), October 3rd, 13th and 21st, December 25th.

1.2.4.13.- Climate and natural resources

Climate
Honduras is divided in three major climatic zones. The Caribbean lowlands have a tropical wet climate with consistently high temperatures and humidity, and rainfall fairly evenly distributed throughout the year. The Pacific lowlands have a tropical wet and dry climate with high temperatures but a distinct dry season from November through April. The interior highlands also have a distinct dry season, but temperatures vary with elevation.
Both the Caribbean and Pacific lowlands are below an altitude of 1,000m, with daytime maximum temperatures averaging between 28 °C and 32 °C throughout the year. In the Pacific lowlands, the last month of the dry season (April) brings the warmest temperatures. The rainy season is slightly cooler, although highly humid. In the Caribbean lowlands, the only relief from the year-round heat and humidity comes during December or January when an occasional strong cold front from the north brings several days of strong northwest winds and slightly cooler temperatures.
The interior highlands range from 1,000m to above 2,000m. Tegucigalpa is located in this area. Above 2,000 meters, temperatures can fall to near freezing at night, and frost sometimes occurs.
Rain falls year round in the Caribbean lowlands but is seasonal throughout the rest of the country. Amounts are abundant along the north coast, especially in the Mosquitia, where the average rainfall is 2,400 millimetres. Nearer San Pedro Sula, amounts are slightly less from November to April, but each month still has considerable precipitation. The interior highlands and Pacific lowlands have a dry season from October to April. Almost all the rain in these regions falls during the period of May to November. Total yearly amounts depend on surrounding topography.
Honduras lies within the hurricane belt, and the Caribbean coast is particularly vulnerable to hurricanes or tropical storms that travel inland from the Caribbean.

Average climate of Tegucigalpa
Hottest month: May (average 12-33°C)
Coldest month: February (average 4-27°C)
Rainfall: mainly in May-November (yearly average of 1000m)
Arable and permanent crop land as percentage of land area is 16% (www.fao.org/trade/docs/FAO-Small.htm).

1.2.4.14.- Subsidies and development programs

Honduras provides no subsidies on sectors and/or crops included in this market study. The national focus is rather on rural development and local food security (e.g. maize program) rather than exports. There are various international development programs that have (part of) their program in the agricultural sector. 
In 2007 a Business Support Organization training program has been developed by the Dutch CBI (Centre for Promotion of Imports) together with FPX in Honduras to train consultants on export marketing skills.
On a national level, the Dutch EVD has programs like PSOM, PESP and the Match Making Facility available for Honduras (see Annex G).

1.2.4.15.- Agricultural sector organization and trade promotion

Agricultural sector organizations
The principal public bodies involved in agricultural and rural development are the Secretary of Agriculture and livestock, Federation of Associations of Agricultural, Livestock and Agro industrial Producers (FPX) and FHIA, the Honduran Foundation for Agricultural Research.

Trade promotion
FPX was founded in 1984 as a Federation of Associations of Agricultural, Livestock and Agro industrial Producers, financed initially by USAID and the Honduran Government. It was to support the then-recently approved Initiative for the ‘Cuenca del Caribe’ in aspects of Development of Technology, Markets, and Products related to Agricultural Export.
Its vision is to “position non-traditional Honduran agricultural products in the international market place, focusing on high standards of productivity, quality and price”, whereas FPX’s mission is to “identify new agro-export products, markets, business and services in a consistent, innovative and trustable way”. Its main roles are to provide:

Although FPX is a private organization, it has strong links with the Secretary (Ministry) of Agriculture. FPX will be the executing agency for the major part of the PRONAGRO Project of the Secretary of Agriculture.
FIDE, a private non-profit organization created in 1984 to promote investment in Honduras, supports export development and works closely with the government and other private organizations to promote and design new legislation aimed at improving the country's business climate.
The Secretary of Industry and Commerce provides information for services for importers, exporters and investors in Honduras (see also www.sic.go.hn).

Ministry of Agriculture
The objectives of the Secretary of Agriculture and livestock (SAG) are described as:

The Secretary of Agriculture has launched a 15 year strategic plan for the further development of the agricultural sector under the name “PRONAGRO”. PRONAGRO seeks to develop complex agribusinesses that stimulate the rural economy, generating productive employment, motivating the use of cutting edge technology and helping to resolve those bottlenecks that have confronted the supply chain in the last years. It will play a connecting role in the agricultural markets, using information and technology, especially for irrigated production, finance and managerial capacity building. To this effect, PRONAGRO has structured 2 sub-programs:

OIRSA
The ‘Organismo Internacional Regional de Sanidad Agropecuaria’ (OIRSA) is a technical agricultural organization working on a Central American level (including the Dominican Republic). In Honduras, OIRSA provides, besides its regular tasks, administrative and technical assistance to the Minister of Agriculture. OIRSA defends and develops the agricultural resources and assures a healthy food production for the well being of the population (see also www.oirsa.org).