Extreme weather like torrential rain and flooding followed by months-long drought have affected 2.2 million people in the Dry Corridor, comprised of El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras and Nicaragua.
Millions need urgent food assistance in the face of the climate and COVID-19 crises. The pandemic will push even more people into poverty and hunger, and threatens a region where economic shocks, erratic climate, displacement and insecurity have already taken a heavy toll.
households are resorting to crisis coping mechanisms
of people don't have enough money to buy basic foods
Farmers face the worst dry cropping season in 35 years
Extreme Weather Wreaks Havoc for Farmers
Erratic Weather
For the fifth consecutive year, erratic weather patterns like prolonged dry spells and excessive rains have devastated maize and bean crops in the Dry Corridor of Central America, leaving farmers and their families prone to hunger and malnutrition. Children are especially vulnerable.
Photo: WFP/Rocío Franco
Coping Mechanisms
Up to 82 percent of affected families have resorted to crisis-level coping strategies, including selling agricultural tools and animals, skipping meals and eating less nutritious food. These strategies may meet immediate needs, but threaten families' stability in the long term.
Photo: WFP/Miguel Vargas
Forced Migration
Subsistence farmers and their families are highly vulnerable to disruptions caused by extreme weather. The region's recent adverse weather has devastated harvests, leaving millions without crops to eat or sell. With no food or work nearby, many families are forced to emigrate elsewhere to survive.
Photo: WFP/Miguel Vargas
WFP in Action
To support this extremely vulnerable region, WFP plans to provide food assistance to more than 700,000 people: 350,000 in Honduras; 150,500 in Guatemala; 121,500 in El Salvador; and 80,000 in Nicaragua.
Photo: WFP/Miguel Vargas
of migrants cited extreme weather as their reason for leaving
likelihood that extreme weather events will hit the next harvest season
increase in emigration from El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras and Nicaragua from 2010-2015
Women in the Dry Corridor
Most single-headed households in the Dry Corridor are headed by mothers, who are economically vulnerable and food insecure.
Due to high levels of migration in the Dry Corridor, women experience an additional burden, as they have to undertake the agricultural activities of departed men on top of their traditional domestic responsibilities.
21 percent of the migrants from El Salvador, Guatemala and Honduras are women.
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Relief Efforts
Climate shocks – like El Niño – affect the planting and harvesting of crops in the Dry Corridor – and they’ll only worsen the already fragile food security communities face in the Dry Corridor. Now, COVID-19 is pushing even more people in the region into poverty and hunger.
Cash Transfers
The goal is to ensure food security by stabilizing access and consumption of food for families affected by climate shocks and coronavirus.
Families in El Salvador, Guatemala and Honduras will receive unconditional cash transfers, covering their food requirements during the lean season.
School Meals
Children across the Dry Corridor get school meals with help from WFP. Sometimes, it’s the only meal they’ll have in a day.
Millions of kids are now out of school during the pandemic. WFP has pivoted from in-school meals to helping distribute take-home rations to families.
Food for Assets
The goal is to help communities adapt and build resilience to climate shocks through its Food Assistance for Assets (FFA) program.
Families receive conditional cash transfers to build and rehabilitate assets that build the resilience, productivity and prosperity of the local community.
Empowering Women
WFP applies a gender transformative approach across all stages of its programs, taking into consideration the vulnerabilities of women, improving their livelihoods and strengthening women’s roles in the public sphere, while involving men in child care and nutrition-sensitive programming.
Hunger and Rain
Elio Rujano, a WFP communications officer based in Panama, has witnessed firsthand the impact of climate change on families in the Dry Corridor who are already struggling to survive. His account includes stories that the news headlines often miss.
