 The Liberal government opted to expand production in mining and agriculture, and in 1876 began granting substantial grants of land and tax exemptions to foreign concerns as well as to local businesses.Mining was particularly important, and the new policies coincided with the growth of banana exports, which began in the Bay Islands in the 1870s and was pursued on the mainland by small and middling farmers in the 1880s.Liberal concessions allowed U.S.-based concerns to enter the Honduran market, first as shipping companies, then as railroad and banana producing enterprises.