Aldea Development provides agricultural and business training to ensure the effective and efficient use of microloans.

In fact, it is a stipulation of receiving a loan for our clients to attend these trainings. Farmers, who have relied on antiquated farming traditions, are now connected to the leading national research institutions to learn the most current methods of agricultural production and business administration.

For example, environmentally harmful slash and burn techniques are replaced through knowledge instilled by professional training. Farmers also learn about producing high quality coffee, its available markets (visit our Aldea Coffee website,) and other complements to production, like organic fertilizers. Finally, when the harvest season arrives, our clients learn about saving their earnings and investing for the future.

Who Leads the Trainings?

Each training is led by instructors and engineers from one of our national partners. The Honduran Institute for Coffee (IHCafe) teaches about new techniques on the cultivation of coffee. The Honduran Secretary of Agriculture (SAG) provides instruction on improving bean and corn production. The National Institute of Professional Formation (INFOP) offers business classes to help create new and diverse microenterprises as well as assists producers to maintain and grow existing businesses.

Training Day

Training day is an exciting day to look forward to each month. One representative from each of our client aldeas attends each training. Oftentimes we hold trainings in the village of La Unión, we also bring our clients to the nearby IHCafé Center for Research and Training for more hands-on sessions. What they learn at each session is then brought back to their village and taught along with the help of field officers Gilberto, Martir and Pedro, at the town's biweekly repayment meetings.

In the rural mountains of Honduras tradition holds strong which makes it difficult for new techniques to really take hold. Bit by bit, Aldea Development along with national agroindustrial research institutions will change the economy of La Unión by assisting our clients to increase the quality and quantity of their outputs. This is essential to the success of our clients and helping them rise out of poverty.

Go on to learn more about our Research and we use it to continually improve our economic development efforts.