Role and Importance of International Remittances for Agricultural Families in Southern Honduras and Northern Haiti

Abstract

In recent years, there has been a notable increase in migration and the sending of international remittances in Honduras and Haiti, especially from the diaspora in the United States. In both countries, these resources represent more than 20% of their GDP. The objective of this article is to understand the role and importance of international remittances among farmers in southern Honduras and northern Haiti, analyzing how these financial transfers impact rural communities. To this end, in addition to using various bibliographic, documentary sources and secondary data, a questionnaire was applied to 25 families living in the rural areas of each country, selected through non-probabilistic sampling. In southern Honduras, remittances have been an important source of income for farming families for over three decades, representing, on average, 54% of household income, equivalent to US$ 261 per month. In northern Haiti, although remittance reception is more recent, they account for 64% of household income, with an average of US$ 132.02 per month. These resources are used not only for basic needs such as education and health but also to improve agricultural activities. Families in both countries invest in the purchase of seeds, fertilizers, agricultural equipment and tools, livestock, and the payment of labor, among others. In both cases, the families stated that remittances allowed them to expand agricultural production and improve their living conditions, although they also revealed a high dependence on these external financial resources.