Read-out of the FAO Director-General’s meeting with the President of Honduras, Xiomara Castro

Rome – FAO Director-General QU Dongyu today received the President of Honduras, Xiomara Castro, at FAO headquarters for a bilateral meeting on the sidelines of the World Food Forum (WFF).

President Xiomara Castro thanked the Director-General for FAO’s continued support to Honduras. She highlighted that the Honduran government has been focused on adopting measures to ensure national food security. For that, the President mentioned the importance of reactivating agriculture sectors, boosting livestock production and protecting forests.

President Castro also noted that the Honduran government will soon start an initiative to address extreme poverty in the country through a programme involving small holder families, which is foreseen to reach about one million people. The objective is to distribute seeds and fertilizers, as well as to implement measures to increase market access. 

The President also mentioned the impacts of climate change, which have increased the intensity of floods and droughts in the country, and noted that the Honduran Congress will soon discuss a bill on climate. 

Director-General Qu Dongyu affirmed that FAO is ready to continue working closely with Honduras to support the country to transform its agrifood systems and promote rural development, creating more opportunities to youth and women in rural areas.  

Qu highlighted the importance of improving competitiveness to attract private investments and increase market access to smallholder farmers, which should be better organized to make use of innovation and digital tools. The Director-General also stressed that FAO has been focused on mobilizing resources for the Central America Dry Corridor.   

The Secretary for Agriculture and Livestock of Honduras, Laura Suazo, also attended the meeting and highlighted that Honduras is receiving FAO’s support to produce an agriculture census, as well as to finalize a soil mapping activity.