The governments of Honduras and Italy have signed an agreement under which the latter will provide 30 million dollars in financing for the expansion of the José Cecilio del Valle Reservoir, in southern Honduras, to enable the irrigation of some 4,000 hectares of environmentally friendly crops. The reservoir can currently store 43 million cubic meters of water, and with only two pumping stations for irrigation, it does not satisfy the demand in the region, said Honduran Agriculture Minister Jacobo Regalado.

“We want to expand this storage capacity, design more effective mechanisms to confront climate change in this semi-desert area of the country, carry out reforestation, generate productive jobs, and raise the awareness of local communities of the need to protect the reservoir,” Regalado told Tierramérica.

The reservoir has an energy generation capacity of 30 megawatts, which is still not fully exploited, and supplies irrigation water for 6,500 hectares of land and drinking water for more than 130,000 people in 73 communities in the southern Honduran department of Valle.