Elevated food needs by COVID-19 and 2020 storms

As the livelihoods of poor urban and rural households have been negatively affected by measures to contain the spread of COVID-19 and by the impact of meteorological events during 2020, food needs are expected to be above normal in the three countries of the region during the period of analysis.

Households located in rural areas, particularly those directly affected by tropical storms Eta and Iota, will have lower food availability and access due to cash crop losses leading to reduced income, disruption in movement between areas, and loss of private and productive assets, which will exacerbate conditions of food insecurity, with the lean season beginning early.

The governments of El Salvador and Honduras and the Nicaraguan population relaxed the containment measures at the end of the previous year, with a slight improvement in the productive activity of the countries; However, urban households affected by the confinement in 2020 will still have difficulties in accessing food, due to the continued fall in their income, debt and unemployment. The increase in COVID-19 cases in the three countries indicates the development of a second wave of infections, which will further delay an economic recovery that is expected to be slow and gradual, although to a lesser extent in Nicaragua.

As of January 13, according to information from OCHA, Honduras reports the financing of approximately 28 percent of the resources required to cover humanitarian needs (food, water and sanitation, livelihoods, protection and shelters), the sector of food security being the one that has received the most funding.

Despite humanitarian assistance, until May 2021, households in Crisis (IPC Phase 3) in the region are those severely affected by hurricanes Eta and Iota in Honduras and Nicaragua, and the very poor in the Salvadoran coffee zone and the Honduran dry corridor. The rest of the poor, urban and rural households will continue to be in Stress (IPC Phase 2), although a seasonal deterioration will be marked as of March for those dependent on daily wages and the market as a source of food.