Farmers — with small and medium-sized holdings — in five areas of Honduras will soon have access to Internet centers aimed at promoting rural development. Over the next three years, 25 such information centers will be set up to improve the economic and social situation of the Honduran countryside, where poverty rates are as high as 75 percent, according to official figures.

The telecoms centers will be part of a national network that will give farmers access to international markets, as part of a project financed by the Canadian government, says Agriculture Minister Mariano Jiménez.

The initiative “is received with appreciation because the Internet is revolutionizing everything, and these farmers have been lagging behind,” Marvin Ponce, of the Coordinating Council of Peasant Farmer Organizations, told Tierramérica.