WORLD – According to reports from the Climate Prediction Center, there is a greater than 90 per cent probability that the current El Niño will continue until the end of the year, and 85 per cent probability that it will persist into early next year.
In Central America, the phenomenon has caused severe droughts in the dry corridor, which should have received rains since May, seriously impacting agricultural and livestock production in the area and threatening the food security of 2.5 million people, reports the International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI).
The most recent report from FEWS NET explains the damages and losses in the first harvest. It is estimated that El Salvador has lost 64 per cent of corn area planted and 82 per cent of the area in beans.
In Honduras, the estimated loss was 94 per cent of the area in corn and 97 per cent of the area in beans.
In Guatemala, the estimated losses were between 75 and 100 per cent of the first harvest for subsistence farmers in the eastern and western part of the dry corridor.
Authorities in the affected countries have been deploying humanitarian aid to those affected by this climatic catastrophe. For example, on June 5th, Costa Rica’s Ministry of Agriculture and Livestock began delivery of livestock feed to approximately 4,000 livestock producers in the Guanacaste province.
Similarly, the government of Honduras has begun implementing the “Food Security Plan of Action for Drought” with an allocation of 100 million lempiras to provide food assistance to 161,403 households.
TheCropSite News Desk
