FAO/GIEWS - Foodcrops & Shortages 04/01 - HONDURAS (20 March)
Planting of first and most important maize season crop starts in April. Paddy farmers and the milling industry agreed this year a 5 percent price increase for the forthcoming crop in an effort to foster production amidst a climate of reconstruction. The accord is expected to result in a small expansion of the area planted in the first season (from April and due be harvested in September). The country has found it difficult to recover from the damage caused by Hurricane “Mitch” (late 1998) which plunged the economy into a deep recession, and the current outlook for the food situation is uncertain. As a result of last year’s dry spell and low international coffee prices, the Honduran Coffee Institute estimates that coffee growers will incur a 30 per cent loss of income (coffee was Honduras’ most important export crop before Hurricane “Mitch”).
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