The EU announced $25 million in aid to Guatemala and $17 million to Honduras for agricultural development.
According to what Laprensagrafica.com published, the announced assistance by the European Commission is aimed at "improving access to fertilizers, seeds and other agricultural products, and measures to boost agricultural production such as micro-credit, rural infrastructure and financing of public works such as roads or irrigation systems which are labor intensive. It also foresees improved access to veterinary services and agricultural advice."
Technical assistance, research, financing, agricultural health and safety are the keys to competitiveness.
Representatives from various Honduran agricultural sectors discussed the importance of agriculture and how to achieve its full potential. The findings were compiled in an article in La Tribuna of Honduras.
Businessmen and officials agreed that agricultural production is the key to the country's development, stating that "the economic platform of the developed nations was based on agriculture," and they stressed that the country has a high potential for forestation, which can be more profitable than crops: "A hectare of mahogany can produce over $400 thousand, but only after 25 years."
A program looking to provide better seeds to farmers to improve production yields has been launched.
The Institute of Agricultural Science and Technology launched a program to improve the yield in the production of corn and bean seeds with the support of the Mexican Institute for the Improvement of Seed Technology.
According to Article in Guatemala-times.com, an output of 1 million quintals is expected to be generated with these new seeds, benefiting 700 thousand people.
State banks will have more than $100 million in loans available for agricultural producers.
The Agricultural Development Bank expects to lend $95 million, while the Multisectoral Investment Bank said that it loaned $54 million to the sector last year. However, there is still no estimate on how much it will lend in 2009.
For its part, the president of Banco Hipotecario, Roberto Navarro, told La Prensa Gráfica: "In our $170 million portfolio, nearly 20% [$ 34 million] is for the agricultural sector."
The Government, in association with the exporting companies will promote productive projects, expected to create 31 thousand jobs.
Elperiodico.com.gt publishes: "The governmental commitment is to provide $22.2 million (Q175 million) in projects run by the Agricultural en Economics ministeries, whilst the exporting companies will invest $10.2 million (Q80.7 million)"
Training for farmers, improvements in the irrigation system and the construction of greenhouses, are some of the projects that will be carried out for agricultural cultivation.
Elsavlador.com reports: "In order to support agricultural diversity, the Ministry of Agriculture will hire, this year, some 300 agronomists to train farmers so that they can learn about adding value to their products, so that they can improve exports and internal consumption, thereby increasing their income, said the head of the Ministry, Mario Ernesto Salaverría."
John J. Danilovich, president of the CRM assistance program, reported that all subsequent payments will be frozen.
Warnings were given. The US ambassador, Robert Callahan, had warned that they would review the level of economic cooperation for Nicaragua due to the claims of fraud in the recent municipal elections.
The Millennium Challenge Account is a 5 year program base on a 175 million dollar donation from the government and people of the United States.
The member countries of SICA (except for Costa Rica) and Taiwan signed six projects for cooperation at a meeting held in Honduras.
Honduran Minister of Foreign Affairs, Edmundo Orellana, said to the press that the approved projects are for the modernization of the Foreign Affairs Ministries of the Central American Integration System (SICA), fishing and agriculture, production and food productivity, the eradication of pests in pigs, poultry health and support for the region's social agenda.
The National Bank for Agricultural Development (Banadesa) reported that it will make a total of $185 million available in credit for the agriculture sector.
Mario Ramon Lopez, president of Banadesa, reported that they have $90 million as a part of the Bank's budget, and another $95 million that will come from various accords with Venezuela, in particular from the Bolivarian Alternative for the Americas.
Central American countries will present a proposal to obtain financing in order to provide resources for agricultural activities.
The Ministers of Agriculture from Ibero-America agreed in El Salvador to promote the joint investment in order to boost food production and to provide incentives to youth that work in the field.
The petition will be made at the XVII Ibero-American Presidential Summit to be held in October in El Salvador.
ProNicaragua, the state's investment promotion agency and the Millenium Challenge Account are carrying out an Agribusiness forum, with the objective of developing the agricultural industry in Nicaragua's West.
"Seeding opportunities in Nicaragua" is the name of this forum, taking place today in the city of León. Participants include industrial agriculture investors from the US, Mexico and Central America.
The United Nations' International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD) has granted Panama a credit of US$4.2 million for a rural modernization project.
The aim of the initiative, according to IFAD, is to improve the social and economic conditions of 10,000 people in central Panama, most of them small farmers, landless laborers, housewives and unemployed youths with annual income of less than 600 euros (US$953).
The World Bank has confirmed that Nicaragua is one of the Latin American countries that can benefit from high world food prices that will boost its farmers.
Willem Janssen, the World Bank's leading specialist on sustainable development in Latin America, said the government should take steps to reap the benefits of high food prices while reducing their impact on its poor citizens, especially those who live on two dollars a day or less.