Latin America

Horticulture Innovation Lab in Central America

How Fruit and Vegetable Research Can Impact Poverty in Central America - Map with descriptions of projects in Guatemala and Honduras
Flyer about the Horticulture Innovation Lab's work in Central America in 2017, download PDF to print: horticulture-innovation-lab-central-america_0.pdf

Since 2012, the Horticulture Innovation Lab has partnered with the Panamerican Agricultural School, Zamorano, with a center in Honduras that serves as a horticultural hub for the region. Find more information about the Horticulture Innovation Lab Regional Center at Zamorano.

In 2013 the Horticulture Innovation Lab also conducted an assessment of constraints to horticultural growth in Central America. The results of this assessment were organized into a report called Advancing Horticulture: Assessment of constraints to horticultural sector growth in Central America. Information about the report is available in both Spanish and English.

In 2016, the Horticulture Innovation Lab started a new project in Guatemala called MásRiego (“more irrigation”), with a $3.4 million buy-in from the USAID mission in Guatemala.

You can learn more about the Horticulture Innovation Lab in Central America (PDF) or from the list of current projects below. To learn more about the Horticulture Innovation Lab's recent work in Guatemala specifically, you may want to browse through our recent blog posts related to Guatemala.

Guillermo Alvarado-Downing

  • Past board member
Guillermo Alvarado-Downing served as the Minister of Agriculture and Livestock of Honduras, and currently owns a fruit and vegetable farm.

Ana Lucía Juárez

Ana Lucía Juárez has 6 years of experience in the production of vegetables and non-tropical fruit crops. Working directly with smallholders, her aim is to increase yield and improve crop quality while seeking access to better markets.

Jaime Torres

Jaime Torres graduated in Agronomic Engineering, with a specialty in Plant Protection at the Zamorano University (Honduras) in 1990, and has over three decades of experience working for institutions dedicated to research, crop production, capacity building, technological transfer, and commercialization.

Empowering Young Horticulture Researchers in Honduras

Led by Julio López Montes,
A fellowship-oriented program that provides seed funding to higher-education students in Honduras to conduct small-scale research projects across the horticulture value chain. Students will be guided through a grant drafting and submission training program to increase capacity in applying for funding, and supporting expertise to implement research projects.
Honduras