(HONDURAS) In Olancho, most rural families are engaged in agriculture. Farming is considered mainly the men’s responsibility and they therefore provide the majority of their family’s income. Women are usually engaged in housework and raising children.
Traditionally, women have always depended on the money their husbands provide them in order to meet their family’s needs for clothing, education, and health care.
In recent years, the seasonal rains have become more unpredictable due to climate change. This greatly affects the agricultural productivity and food security of the communities in Olancho. Many of the women have come to realize that they can no longer rely on the traditional harvests of corn and beans as the sole source of income and food for their families.
To assist families in Olancho with growing more food, World Renew is helping local women’s groups start small businesses. Through World Renew’s Honduran partner, Diaconia Nacional, the women were trained in poultry raising and received building materials for chicken coops. Then the women organized into groups and started a small business.
The women found that they had good results from the project at the beginning, but egg production decreased during summer. This was because they could no longer afford to provide the chickens with enough food because of grain shortages and increased prices. At this point, the women had to choose between buying grain for their family to eat or to give to their laying hens to maintain egg production. In the middle of this dilemma, women came up with another business idea: they requested training in breeding broiler chickens from Diaconia Nacional.
The women managed to establish another coop where they successfully bred broiler chickens, and eventually sold the meat in their community. They sold all of the chickens they raised and earned enough profit to buy grain and start another breeding cycle of laying hens.
Today, the women are succeeding in both poultry activities. They sell the eggs from their laying hens and meat from the broiler chickens in the local community, which is also benefitting from a new source of food and nutrition. If the women have more chickens or eggs than they can sell in their own community, they are able to sell them other neighboring communities. This project has been a blessing to the families and communities in Olancho—but it has been especially good for the women. Beyond their traditional tasks of housework and caring for children, these women are now contributing to the income of their families. They are also able to meet other family needs such as clothing, education, and health care. The women’s groups sell their chickens in the market daily, in times of increased production, they hire other people to help them, creating additional employment in their community.
World Renew is replicating this project in with its partner, Alfalit, in the northeast region of Honduras where another women's groups has started a business breeding broiler chickens. So far, they have also been successful at raising the chickens and selling the meat. They have even expanded their business, thanks to a loan they received from the credit union in their community.
We hope that these successful experiences motivate more women's groups in other communities.
Story written by by Eduardo Artica (Program Advisor World Renew Honduras)
Note: World Renew's ministry in Honduras is made possible, in part, by the generous support of the Canadian government's Department of Foreign Affairs, Trade and Development.
