TechnoServe is currently executing a $10 million U.S. Department of Agriculture Food for Progress project to increase... agricultural productivity and expand trade in bean and specialty coffee for 27,000 smallholder farmers in the departments of Yoro, Colón, Olancho, Francisco Morazán and El Paraíso. The project aims to transform the underdeveloped bean market and support continued growth of the specialty coffee industry. The Honduran Agricultural Partnership will train farmers and link them to national phytosanitary systems, ensuring a safer food supply. In partnership with Michigan State University (MSU), the project will improve the capacity of key government agencies to enhance the quality of bean seeds available for farmers and lay the foundation for improved access over the long-term.

In Intibucá, TechnoServe is helping a group of indigenous women of Lenca ethnicity cultivate and sell ornamental... flowers through the Floricultura El Clavel cooperative. The 12 members of the cooperative are learning crucial business skills and agronomic practices, and accessing funding and a growing market in which they can sell their product at a fair price. The cooperative has built two greenhouses and increased monthly revenue ninefold since the program began.

Approximately 98,000 Garífuna people live in Honduras, mostly concentrated on the North Coast. Garífuna women work as... subsistence farmers and process much of the cassava they grow into a flat bread called casabe. TechnoServe is providing technical and business development assistance to ten groups of Garifuna women, representing 300 members, to improve cassava productivity and sell casabe in local and export markets. With the introduction of higher yielding cassava varieties and improved techniques, the women have more than tripled their yields. TechnoServe has also trained farmer groups in processing, value addition and marketing.

Beekeeping is one of the major livelihood activities in the departments of Colón and Ocotepeque, providing income and... other benefits like food, nutrition and medicine. TechnoServe is promoting sustainable beekeeping in these communities by organizing groups of beekeepers and providing business training and consulting. The program promotes appropriate technologies to increase honey productivity, develop new products and strengthen beekeeping organizations, aiming to benefit more than 150 families overall.

Small and growing businesses (SGBs) are major drivers of economic growth and prosperity in the developing world.... Through the program Impulsa Tu Empresa, TechnoServe is engaging and empowering entrepreneurs to grow their businesses by providing comprehensive training and mentoring. The three-year program aims to help 800 SGBs in Central America and West Africa by providing entrepreneurs with business skills, strategic planning, market linkages and access to capital.

Building on a model that has been successfully implemented in other countries in Central America, TechnoServe and its... local partners ran a periodic business plan competition, Idea Tu Empresa, in Honduras to help entrepreneurs turn their good ideas into thriving businesses. Eight winners received cash prizes to implement and grow their businesses. They represented all three competition categories—agro-industry, manufacturing and tourism—and hailed from all over the country. The winning business plans ranged from indigenous-themed restaurants to a plastic recycling collection center to a business selling traditional hand-embroidered scarves.

TechnoServe worked with various cocoa and coffee industry stakeholders — local government agencies, producer... associations, research foundations and financial institutions — to help Honduran farmers and processors cater to the growing worldwide demand for specialty coffee and fine cocoa. TechnoServe-led technical and business training helped farmer cooperatives improve their crop quality and market access, generating higher incomes and creating many new jobs. From 2006 to 2011, TechnoServe assisted 12 coffee groups and 13 cacao groups, benefiting more than 11,000 people and generating $14.8 million in sales.