by Steve Sempier

lizabeth Trejos-Castillo is one of the newest arrivals to the PD/A CRSP. She brings a unique background that will help facilitate CRSP research in Honduras. Trejos grew up in Costa Rica and completed her undergraduate degree at Iowa State University with a double major in psychology and English. Trejos and her husband, Pablo Rolando Martinez-Mejia, then moved to Honduras. While in Honduras Martinez worked at the Escuela Agrícola Panamericana (Zamorano), which hosts the CRSP Honduras Project.

Joe Molnar, a CRSP researcher from Auburn University, interviewed Martinez during a visit to Zamorano. During the interview Martinez told Molnar about Trejos’s background. Molnar was looking for a graduate assistant to study aquaculture’s sociological impacts on local communities in Honduras and thought Trejos might be a candidate for the position. While Molnar was still at Zamorano, he interviewed Trejos and decided she would be a great addition to the CRSP. She is now back in the US and currently enrolled at Auburn. She will return to Honduras this spring to perform her CRSP fieldwork.

PD/A CRSP graduate student Elizabeth Trejos-Castillo

Trejos’s work will revolve around a Food Security Research investigation under the Tenth Work Plan. The title of the investigation is “Income, Food Security, and Poverty Reduction: Case Studies of Functioning Clusters of Successful Small-Scale Aquaculture Producers.” The three objectives of this investigation are to identify clusters of small- and medium-scale producers who have engaged in repeated cycles of tilapia production; to review the circumstances and conditions that contribute to successful implementation and continued practice of tilapia culture; and to formulate principles and guidelines for providing technical assistance and research support for small- and medium-scale tilapia farmers in Honduras.

Trejos believes her work can lead to the development of guidelines on how the adoption process works and clarify the dynamics of growing tilapia on small farms in Honduras. The intensive portion of Trejos’s fieldwork will entail interviewing farmers, extensionists, and community leaders in Honduras. She will speak with individuals and groups for a month and will focus on regions where successful tilapia producers are active.

Trejos is optimistic about tilapia aquaculture in rural Honduras. She notes the benefits of tilapia culture include a new source of income, diet improvement, and increased employment by private aquaculture companies. Trejos also projects that the potential for aquaculture growth in Honduras is strong since there is an adequate supply of water resources. Finally, she notes that women play a vital role in aquaculture ventures in Honduras because they are able to maintain the ponds and feed fish while their husbands are working in the fields.

Although the possibility for aquaculture growth exists, aquaculture development faces several constraints in Honduras. Trejos mentions the lack of technical support, no organized marketing network for tilapia in Honduras, and limited motivation of rural people to adopt a new form of agriculture as obstacles to development. Trejos’s project will dig further into these issues and illuminate the sources of these challenges so they can be addressed.

Trejos is busy outside of her CRSP work and graduate studies. Her greatest challenge is balancing graduate school, additional personal goals, and raising two boys. She finds relaxation in photography, art, music, movies, and reading. After completing her project with the PD/A CRSP and graduating from Auburn, Trejos would like to return to Costa Rica to work as a field or community extension agent.

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The Aquaculture CRSP is funded under USAID Grant No. LAG-G-00-96-90015-00 and by the participating US and Host Country institutions. Questions for or about the Aquaculture CRSP? Comments about this site? Please visit the FAQ page or email us at ACRSP@oregonstate.edu. Disclaimers