Milk cows, migrants, and land markets: Unraveling the complexities of forest-to-pasture conversion in northern Honduras

Over the past 4 decades, forest clearing has occurred rapidly in Central America. Some estimates put forest loss as high as 431,000 hectares per year. According to a recent estimate, this figure has probably declined to around 300,000 hectares, reflecting the virtual disappearance of forestry resources in some countries, such as in Costa Rica and El Salvador, that are located outside the protected areas. Nevertheless, the remaining forests are still undergoing rapid conversion to alternative uses, especially in the Atlantic regions of Honduras, Nicaragua, and Panama and in the Peten in Guatemala. Most of the land that is cleared of forest ends up as grassland. In this article I will examine the process of forest-to-pasture conversion in the Atlantic region of northern Honduras. This article presents evidence that contradicts the commonly held assumption that tropical forests are being converted to pasture because they are unsuitable for alternative uses. In northern Honduras, small, mostly migrant, farmers from other parts of the country have been relatively successful at producing grains on cleared hillsides. Indeed, these farmers have achieved a certain fame within the literature on low-input sustainable agriculture. However, their relative success has not stopped land sales to wealthier dairy farmers. Furthermore, as older frontiers are converted to pasture, small farmers are converting forest lands to alternative uses elsewhere. The trend is eastward, toward La Mosquitia, as well as higher up into fragile montane forest areas of northern Honduras, continuing a trend from west to east that is predominant throughout Central America.