The picture would change with the exit of the first crops, not only for food available on the market, but also because of the employment it will generate.
The Hambruna Early Warning Systems Network (Fews Net) warned of an annual food shortage season in Honduras, El Salvador and Nicaragua, which will mainly affect the region’s dry corridor.
Fews Net, led by the United States Agency for International Development (USAID), says the peak of food shortages will extend for a month this year, until the first harvest comes on the market and more jobs are generated.
In its latest bulletin, the network notes that households in these three countries have used strategies to address the situation, such as reducing food, health and education costs, as well as the proportion of food consumed.
“There are) modifications in the amount of food consumed, to compensate for a seasonal decrease in their availability of food, which this year has been worse due to agricultural losses during 2023.
Fews Net
Newsletter
The influence of the El Niño phenomenon billed basic grain crops in the region during 2023 and, although the transition with La Niña continues, Fews Net warns of warm conditions and irregular rainfall, which will continue until January 2025.
The network recalled that the lack of rain at the beginning of the agricultural cycle caused the planting to be delayed. In El Salvador, producers confirmed that this year they stopped planting the milpa in May and began work in June.
The increase in rainfall accumulations would have benefited crops of basic grains, but it created conditions for the appearance of pests and diseases that, although they do not represent significant damage, have impacted the pocket of producers.
A breath
Until the first harvest comes on the market, a part of the households, mainly in Honduras, will remain in crisis conditions, while the rest will remain in heightened food insecurity.
The network expects El Salvador to maintain this level of food insecurity until January 2025.
Fews Net estimates that the cash crops of the first and last are kept in the average margins for the three countries.
For El Salvador, the Salvadoran Chamber of Small and Medium Agricultural Producers Association (Campo) expects the harvest of basic grains of the 2024-2025 cycle to the17.6 million quintals. The trade union has externalated that the projections are not 100 per cent and could be lower.
This article has been translated after first appearing in Diario El Mundo