A Demonstration Center located in Honduras was developed by the Horticulture Innovation Lab in collaboration with the Panamerican Agricultural School, Zamorano in 2012 – when it was then referred to as the "Horticulture CRSP Regional Center of Innovation at Zamorano."

Today, the center is locally-led by Zamorano and continues to network researchers, extension workers and members of the private sector as a repository for horticultural technologies and knowledge. It also serves as a hub that provides training programs, facilitates the evaluation and adoption of horticultural technologies, and develops mechanisms for sharing ideas within and across borders.

The Demonstration Center works with national agriculture research and extension systems such as the Honduran Agricultural Research Foundation (FHIA), agricultural universities throughout Latin America and the Caribbean, non-governmental organizations and the private sector to provide ongoing training for the local horticultural industry. The Demonstration Center at Zamorano draws on local experts to support the technical and educational needs of producers in the region.

The Demonstration Center at Zamorano also has its own tri-fold brochure. The team also shares updates on a Facebook page.

Technologies at the center

The center includes adaptations and demonstrations of horticultural technologies. Some of the technologies that have been set up at the Demonstration Center at Zamorano:

• Large net houses and macro tunnels
• CoolBot-equipped cool room
• Sorting and washing station for postharvest handling
• Chimney solar dryer
• Hydroponic vegetable production
• Tomato grafting
• Solar-powered pump for irrigation
• Zero-energy cool chamber (ZECC)
• Mega ZECC

The center is also working on a new design for a retractable tunnel that can be opened and closed to more precisely regulate temperature during the hot and humid summers that are so common throughout Central America.

For more information about technologies tested, adapted and promoted by the Horticulture Innovation Lab, see our technology fact sheets — available in English and Spanish, including:

• El CoolBot ofrece una efectiva refrigeración a un bajo costo
• Las perlas de secado para el almacenamiento de semillas de alta calidad
• Las mallas anti-insectos protegen los cultivos para aumentar el rendimiento
• El secado solar añade valor a los excedentes de cultivos
• Bombas solares que incrementan las opciones para los agricultores
• Hortalizas injertadas aumenta el rendimiento
• Cultivo de hortalizas con la agricultura de conservación

Inauguration

The inauguration of this center was held Sept. 28, 2012 (at which time, it was called the "Horticulture CRSP Regional Center of Innovation at Zamorano"). Several distinguished guests attended and delivered remarks, including the Honduran Minister of Agriculture and the Zamorano Rector. View presentations and other event highlights from the inauguration.

More about the Demonstration Centers

The Demonstration Center at Zamorano is the second of such centers opened by the Horticulture Innovation Lab. Find out more about the Horticulture Innovation Lab's Demonstration Centers.

More about the Horticulture Innovation Lab in Central America

Find out more about the Horticulture Innovation Lab's projects in Central America (fact sheet) and about the program's partners throughout Latin America.