Irregular rainfall affects the most vulnerable families

The Central America Climate Forum predicted average or below-average rainfall in most of the region's Pacific for the May / July quarter; Erratic rainfall was observed and with low accumulation during the months of April and May, affecting the beginning of the sowing of basic grains.

In April 2019, prices of white maize showed atypical decreasing trends in Nicaragua due to the outflow to the market of the Apante harvests, slightly upward in Honduras, but stable in El Salvador according to seasonal behavior. Prices remained above the average during the 2018/2019 cycle and due to speculation of losses they didn’t recover to average levels.

Bean prices showed stable behavior in Honduras and El Salvador, but decreased in Nicaragua, due to the presence in the market of Postrera and Apante flows. Compared to the previous year and the five-year average, prices decreased due to an average production in the 2018/2019 cycle.

Due to the lack of employment opportunities, the families of the poorest farmers who will depend on the market for their food during the May-August period will resort to coping strategies (sale of work tools and small animals, purchase of less nutritious food, spacing of meal times, reduction of food rations and migration to urban centers or abroad).

Due to deterioration in livelihoods, crop losses, reduced incomes and price increases in basic products, families in subsistence farming communities will find themselves in Stressed (IPC, Phase 2) Food Security in June. However, there is a limited number of poorer households in isolated communities that could be face Crisis (IPC, Phase 3) Acute Food Security.