Guatemala to provide food aid as El Nino causes severe drought

This year's El Nino event, deemed the strongest in four decades, has already triggered a severe drought in Central America's Dry Corridor, according to a government announcement in Guatemala City. El Nino, which raises surface temperatures in the central and eastern equatorial Pacific Ocean, disrupts global winds and rainfall patterns, leading to erratic weather conditions.

The current iteration of El Nino is causing widespread crop failures and livestock deaths in the arid region, which spans parts of Honduras, Guatemala, El Salvador, Nicaragua, and Costa Rica. The government has pledged to provide food assistance to over one million families affected by the drought. Social Development Minister Abelardo Pinto revealed that maize, beans, and rice distributions, supported by the United Nations World Food Programme, would initially benefit around 134,000 families in Guatemala.

The overall value of the food supplies is estimated at US$62.5 million. Guatemala, where 60% of its 18 million population lives in poverty, is particularly vulnerable to the drought, and experts predict that the consequences of the weather event will persist well into 2027.