Suggestions for a nutritional strategy for the United States Agency for International Development mission to Honduras

This report looks at the nutritional status of Honduras, discusses past A.I.D. nutrition assistance efforts, and suggests an A.I.D. strategy for reducing malnutrition in the country. The report finds that even if Honduras were to begin a period of rapid and sustained economic growth, more than 25% of the country"s children would still be malnourished in the year 2000. In addition, A.I.D."s current programs and their planned enhancements, while likely to cause some improvements, are insufficient. The report therefore recommends that A.I.D. help the Government of Honduras: (1) establish a system of clear and stable economic incentives that cause value to be assigned to the time and products of the poor so that their returns reflect the poor"s real value to the country; (2) reorient the provision of public services (health, water, sanitation, roads, schools, technology transfer, and marketing structures) to assure adequate coverage for the producers and workers in the traditional agricultural sectors; (3) provide immediate relief for the acute nutritional problems of the western and southern regions of the country; and (4) promote national awareness of the need to solve Honduras" severe food and nutrition problems, and support the reorientation of national institutions toward a sustainable approach to these problems. It may also be necessary to provide nutrition-oriented services to some segments of the urban population to obtain political support for overall policy reforms. The report emphasizes that Honduras" nutrition problem needs to be seen as problem of severe rural poverty and not as one that can be solved by an urban-based cheap food policy.