1. BACKGROUND
- On September 8th, the Guatemalan Government declared a State of National Calamity in the local media, citing concerns that the food crisis will extend beyond the area known as the Dry Corridor.
- UN Agencies and WFP have been providing assistance for the last three weeks.
- The number of children affected by severe acute undernutrition, arriving at the national hospital of Jalapa, has increased to 91 since beginning of August 2009 - three times higher compared with the same months of previous years (2007-08).
- These are not isolated incidents, and cases of severe acute malnourished children – many under six months of age are also reported in the provinces of Jutiapa, Santa Rosa, Zacapa, Chiquimula, El Progreso and Baja Verapaz, (known as the dry corridor of Guatemala).
Reportedly 25 children have died so far, but information is still being compiled at the Ministry of Health.
- Previous crop losses (as a result of the Tropical Depression No 16 in October 2008) in the grain-surplus provinces of Peten, Izabal and Alta Verapaz have reduced staple foods in the market and increased prices in local food markets. Prices for grain and black beans are at the same high levels of 2008.
- This situation is likely to deteriorate, because the effects of El Niño have extended the dry spell (more than 27 days now). Furthermore, during this lean season, food stocks at the household level have been reduced considerably.
- This is all happening in a context in which the global economic crisis has reduced remittances, exports, foreign investment, tourism revenues, access to credit, increased the government's budget deficit and unemployment. The combination of these factors is pushing the working poor into the ranks of the hungry poor, in a context of large income disparities and marginalization of the indigenous populations.
