The department of Valle has a strategic location as a border corridor being located in the southern part of Honduras, which has been named as region 13 Gulf of Fonseca in the framework of the national vision of the country (Vision of the Country 2010-2038 and National Plan 2010-2022) (https://observatorioplanificacion.cepal.org/es/planes/vision-de-pais-2010-2038-y-plan-de-nacion-2010-2022-de-honduras), with a population of 195,747 inhabitants. During the year 2023, according to the Central Bank of Honduras, the Department of Valle increased its income from family remittances by 7.3 % in the first semester of 2023, totalling 4,509 million US dollars in income for families, which continues to be the item that contributes the most economic dynamics to the territory of Valle. This department concentrates its economic activity on the production of basic grains: corn, beans, sorghum and sesame, as well as export fruits (melon and watermelon), salt production, dairy products and shrimp.

On the other hand, the Honduran government has been developing actions for the development of the area, declaring the Gulf of Fonseca region as a model region within the framework of the country's national vision plan, as it includes the entire Department of Valle, given its importance as a border corridor between Nicaragua, Honduras and El Salvador; strategically building the dry canal that links the Pacific Sea with the Atlantic Sea, which is an important structure for commercial exchange and the take-off of the economic dynamism of the region, which will lead to a greater demand for dairy products, grains for export, among other products and services.

 The central government through the Secretary of Agriculture and Livestock (SAG) has been developing efforts at the level of the Gulf of Fonseca Region through the National Programme for Sustainable Rural and Urban Development (PRONADERS), with investments in productive infrastructure and technological bonds, on the other hand, through the Secretary of Natural Resources and Environment (SERNA), efforts have been developed for the creation and legalisation of the basin, sub-basin and micro-basin councils within the framework of the general water law. https://www.poderjudicial.gob.hn/CEDIJ/Leyes/Documents/Ley%20General%20de%20Aguas%20Decreto%20181-2009%20(8,1mb).pdfThe project is based on the integration of the local economy, structures that include the participation of multiple sectors of the territories, highlighting mainly the inclusion of the productive sectors; so we consider that the purpose of this project is to complement these actions to take advantage of the momentum of these processes and investments to strengthen the productive chains with an innovative and sustainable approach with an emphasis on the water footprint; Therefore, ADED VALLE, in 2018 managed to integrate 6 business nuclei through the implementation of the project "Integration and Strengthening of Binational Nucleus of Local Economic Development in El Salvador and Honduras" executed by ADEL La Unión, ADED Valle and Fundación Vida; financed by EU/AL Invest 5.0/CAINCO, a project in which the results obtained by the dairy and sesame production nuclei continue to stand out, influencing the thematic tables of the region, framed in the law of the nation plan and country vision in which ADED VALLE has currently managed to hold the vice presidency of the regional council of the region13 Gulf of Fonseca, from where it continues to influence at the level of government and cooperation structures, in order to expand these nuclei towards structures with greater capacities, such as the value chain tables; It has also been accompanying the creation of the basin councils within the framework of the general water law, and is currently part of the general assembly as technical advisor to the two large basin councils that cover the department of Valle (Nacaome and Goascorán).  

The target groups and final beneficiaries are MSMEs, individual producers, groups of rural families that make up associations of agricultural producers and micro-basin councils, who develop production activities in the prioritised chains, dairy and sesame, as well as activities for the protection of micro-basins, sub-basins and basins, which is where the high rates of youth migration, high levels of poverty, as well as high levels of climate vulnerability are concentrated and where needs are identified such as:  

Lack of sustainable jobs, dependence on family remittances, raw materials or inputs at high costs, lack of staff with skills in organisational and administrative management of enterprises, lack of production techniques with an agroecological approach and diversification in the cultivation of products, lack of use of by-products, lack of improved seeds, lack of technology that allows them to adapt to climate change, lack of storage capacity for rainwater, lack of equipment for the transport of products, they are also exposed to difficulties such as: Access to soft financing, long periods of drought that cause crop losses due to the effects of climate change and certification processes for export and very bureaucratic customs procedures; the above described has direct effects on production which puts at risk the economic income of the most vulnerable families and therefore affects food security mainly in the municipalities that make up the dry corridor of Honduras, as is the case of the department of Valle.  

With this action, the following will be attended to 50 MSMES of the different links in the 2 prioritised chains, 2 producer associations) composed of 70 dairy- and sesame-producing families, and  130 unorganised individual producers of 5 municipalities in the border corridor of the department of Valle, to whom the development of this action is expected to strengthen productive capacities and provide training on the implementation of agro-food and agro-ecological systems. The following will be established 2 The development of workshops for producers on agro-industry technology and sustainable production will allow for an improvement in livestock herds to improve milk production yields, as well as the improvement of grass seeds. In the case of the sesame chain, training will be provided through experimental centres in the region to obtain a sesame seed with better yields and export quality, which will improve the generation of jobs for women and young people, causing a decrease in migration; In addition, spaces will be adapted for the development of dairy and sesame demonstration farms on the land owned by the academy or on the farms of beneficiary producers, which will allow the application of good agricultural practices as a strategy to have a resilient and sustainable agriculture in the face of climate change; Training will be provided in marketing to achieve an expansion of the SAN table, achieving the participation of 4 more municipalities in this governance structure at the level of the Department of Valle, which will lead to the generation of jobs and self-employment, boosting the local economy, since the Department of Valle stands out as one of the departments with the highest expulsion of young people to the migration route to the USA, labour migrants to El Salvador and migrants displaced by the effects of climate change internally and externally; farmers will be strengthened and awareness will be raised among young people and women leaders members of the associations, as well as members of the micro-watershed councils formed in the 5 municipalities to intervene and in order to promote agriculture as an opportunity and to carry out activities for the benefit of climate change mitigation and contribute to food security, all the actions described above will be linked to meet the Sustainable Development Goals and to contribute to the Regional Climate Change Strategy (SICA), as well as the 2 existing management plans for the Nacaome river basin and the transboundary Goascoran river basin. 

The final beneficiaries are an average of 8500 people in the rural communities where the stakeholders are located, MSMEs, producer associations, as well as the final consumers who buy the products in the local markets of 5 municipalities of Valle, national and international markets.

Jesy Nohemy Barralaga Euceda

General Manager - ADED Valle Foundation

gerencia@fundacionadedvalle.org