Hurricane Mitch in 1998 devastated much of Honduras. Many of the small farms and ranches had their crops ruined. The farmers were not able to harvest and sell their crops and in many cases were unable to repay their loans to the banks. Losing financing meant that they were not able to buy seed, supplies, equipment etc. for the subsequent years. There is land throughout Honduras where this problem exists. This was the case with a friend we met in Comayagua; Carlos. He had access to great, fertile land but since 1998 had not been able to secure financing to replant beans, corn ect. or for the necessary equipment. He approached us and asked about a pig farm.

Carlos spent months doing due diligence to learn the "pig business". He did all the labor for the pens, waste disposal ect. The project was started in March of '06. Carlos planted corn next to the pig pens and the pigs now consume corn plus a food supplement each day. The pens are clean and the area around the pens is beautiful. July of '07 marked our first litter of piglets! Nine piglets were born and are doing fine. Since that time the capacity has doubled and we have had four more litters of pigs.

Amigos of Honduras is very excited for this business venture which is now sefl-sustaining. Honduras has to import pork so it should be very easy for the pigs to be sold when they reach five or six months old. The idea is to now employ Hondurans and let them raise pigs in these pens. Providing gainful employment to Hondurans is one of the ways Amigos hopes to make a permanent difference.