TEGUCIGALPA – A high level delegation from the governments of Honduras and the United States traveled to La Paz today, to see first-hand how U.S. assistance is helping reduce poverty and malnutrition in one of the departments most impacted by the current drought.
U.S. Ambassador James D. Nealon and Tjada McKenna, Assistant to the USAID Administrator for the Bureau for Food Security, joined Minister of Economic Development Alden Rivera and Minister of Agriculture Jacobo Paz in a visit to Guascatoro and Los Planes, where they observed how U.S. Government assistance is helping thousands of farming families earn more income and better feed their families. The U.S. Government’s ACCESO program aims to reduce poverty and improve nutrition in western and southern Honduras.
“It was an honor to meet with these Honduran families, and to hear them share their personal stories of how participating in the ACCESO program has changed their lives,” said Ambassador Nealon.
Despite low coffee prices and the impact of the leaf rust epidemic, the ACCESO program has moved more than 25,000 people out of poverty through improved farming techniques, crop diversification and other practices that have doubled their income.
Nutrition centers that are part of the ACCESO program have helped reduce the number of undernourished children by nearly 40 percent in western Honduras. In Guascatoro, the delegation visited a nutrition center where community health volunteers provide hands-on cooking demonstrations, nutritional counseling, and child weight/height monitoring.
Public private partnerships will help to maintain the momentum and achieve sustainable results from these programs. To that end, the U.S. Government has formed 47 public-private partnerships to advance ACCESO’s objectives.
