Loss of income sources leads to food insecure households

At the national level, restrictive measures have negatively impacted access to food for poor households dependent on the informal economy and remittances. For more than two months, households have experienced a reduction in income due to the closure of businesses and other sources of employment, leading to the use of coping strategies to cover their food needs, facing food insecurity in Stress (Phase 2, CIF).

The lean season started earlier than usual in the dry corridor, marked by dependence on the market and the accelerated use of income earned during the months of high demand for labor. Households were already using coping strategies to obtain food, when restrictions by COVID-19 made access to food even more difficult due to less mobility in the search for alternative sources of income and higher prices for basic grains, leading to Crisis (Phase 3, CIF) food security outcomes.

Although with low coverage, the Government has started aid programs such as the Bono Familia targeting 2 million households, the Economía Informal, targeting 200,000 workers and the Protección del Empleo Formal targeting 300,000 workers. The School Feeding Program has reached 2.4 million students in the public sector with food delivery equivalent to the daily allocation, while the COVID Food Support and Prevention Program for 1 million households has not started.

For the week of April 19-25, the Ministry of Health reports a significant increase in cases of acute malnutrition with 13,740 cases nationwide, 3.3 times greater than the average of the last five years. Twenty-one departments have increases compared to the same period in 2019, with Escuintla, San Marcos, El Progreso, Retalhuleu and Zacapa with the highest rates. In addition to a methodological change in data transfer, households have been running deficits and the COVID19 crisis has affected access to food.