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Some 2.5 million people in Central America need food assistance due to the combined impact of severe drought, the Coffee Rust plague and a spike in food prices. WFP is working with the governments of Guatemala, Honduras and Nicaragua to provide food assistance to 1.4 million people, but there are challenges.
PANAMA CITY -The drought, which has destroyed crops and other livelihoods across Central America, is having devastating effects on Hugo Jolón, his wife and five children. They live in the community of Cruz del Valle, in Guatemala's El Progreso department. It's part of the so-called "Dry Corridor," a drought-prone area shared by Guatemala, El Salvador, Honduras and Nicaragua.
In their 0.7 hectares of land, Hugo and his family normally grow maize, Guatemalans' main staple food. But not this year. Since late June, average rainfall in some parts of the Dry Corridorr has been 50 to 75 percent below average rainfall. Cruz del Valle has not been spared.
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"We lost our harvest and I have no job," Hugo told Guatemalan government and United Nations officials during a recent visit to his community. The latest report from food security analysts at FEWS NET confirms that the droughts are the worst in 10 years, including the El Niño year of 2009.
Hugo's situation mirrors that of 2.5 million people in Central America. "They are subsistence farmers and day-to-day laborers who are in a critical situation due to the combination of three factors," said WFP Regional Director for Latin America and the Caribbean, Miguel Barreto. "First, they lost their subsistence crops, mostly beans and maize, to the drought. Second, due to the outbreak of the Coffee Rust plague in 2012, coffee production dropped and so did the demand for jobs and the families' income. And finally, a shortage of beans and maize has caused a rise in food prices in all countries, he said.
"Some families resort to dangerous survival tactics, such as skipping or reducing the size of meals. Others simply stop sending their children to school to save money. Others send the head of households to Mexico or the United States to find jobs," said Barreto.
Humanitarian crisis on horizonBased on government figures, WFP could provide food assistance for three months to some 1.4 million people. However, these will require 70.000 metric tons of food (some US$80 million) which are not currently available in Guatemala, El Salvador, Honduras and Nicaragua. "We only have 12.000 metric tons of food, which are being distributed to families affected by the Coffee Rust and other WFP programmes," said Barreto. "We are in a critical situation," he underscored.
A FEWS NET report from mid-August warned that conditions will deteriorate further in early 2015 because of expected poor harvests and that atypically-high levels of humanitarian assistance will be needed in the region to avoid a food crisis. "We are at the doorsteps of a humanitarian crisis if we do not take action immediately," said Barreto.
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Resilience, the key to the futureThe key to avoiding a repeat of the current food insecurity in the Dry Corridor lies in helping poor communities become resilient to mitigate the impact of prolonged droughts, said the WFP Regional Director.
"These people grow mostly maize and beans to feed their families, but these crops demand lots of water," he pointed out. "Governments and the international community need to help them by promoting drought-resistant crops and other agricultural techniques that will help them become resilient in the near future."
