The Promotion of Non‐traditional Agricultural Exports in Honduras: Issues of Equity, Environment and Natural Resource Management

A recent trend in development in Central America is the promotion of non‐traditional agricultural exports as a means of revitalizing economic growth and increasing income among the region's small producers. Using an approach which integrates environmental concerns into political‐economic analysis, this article examines the impact of this strategy on regional inequality and environmental degradation. The article begins with a synopsis of efforts to further non‐traditional exports in Central America since the Second World War. Then, in order to demonstrate the complex articulation among social, economic and environmental factors, the investigation focuses on the impact of non‐traditional exports on southern Honduras. Analysis concentrates on the most important of several non‐traditional exports being encouraged — shrimp mariculture in coastal areas along the Gulf of Fonseca. The study demonstrates the systemic interconnections among the dynamics of agricultural development, associated patterns of capitalist accumulation, rural impoverishment and serious problems of environmental degradation. The article illustrates how larger international and national forces affected people and the national environment and how local people, in turn, are attempting to affect those powers. Finally, the Honduran case is related to policy concerns regarding effective environmental management. First we were evicted from our land … now they are throwing us out of the sea. Where will we go? (Honduran peasant and artisanal fisherman, La Tribuna, 26 May 1988)