Banana cultivation in Honduras: A case study with small farmers of cane

Abstract

According to different studies, in the last years the participation of basic grains—corn and bean—in the national Gross Domestic Product has decreased as a result of the fall in agricultural prices and the rise in the costs of production. Due that, peasants or small farmers see themselves forced to abandon the cultivation of basic grains and seek other strategies. They opted by the diversification of agricultural production, gambling by those crops with higher productivity and profitability. In this sense, the objective of this study was to make known the banana production process, which is the main crop that small agricultural producers have in the municipality of Cane, in La Paz, Honduras, as well as to identify and describe other aspects related to production. The results of the study demonstrated that: (1) small farmers have diversified agricultural production; (2) bananas have replaced the cultivation of basic grains as the main agricultural economic activity, and (3) in the production process, they have incorporated new techniques and technologies, as well as a variety of production inputs, in order to rise crop productivity and profitability. From the analysis of these results, it is concluded that Cane is developing a new agriculture with different characteristics from those of previous epochs.