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Migrant Returns Intensify Drought Crisis in Rural Central America
🇵🇾 Paraguay /Environment & Climate

Migrant Returns Intensify Drought Crisis in Rural Central America

From ABC Color · () Spanish

Translated from Spanish and summarized by DistantNews. Read the original for the full story.

At a glance

Newswire Named sources Ongoing story
  • Drought and heavy rains have caused widespread crop losses, reduced water access and worsening food insecurity across the Dry Corridor in Guatemala, Honduras and El Salvador.
  • An Oxfam-led assessment found that 78.6% of more than 70,000 maize-producing households lost between 75% and 100% of their harvest, while 64.2% of households with maize reserves said supplies would last three weeks or less.
  • The return of migrants without remittances or other resources is increasing pressure on households already facing food and water shortages.

The rural world of Central America's Dry Corridor is entering a new phase of climate and food crisis. In the Northern Triangle, drought, crop losses and shrinking water supplies now coincide with the return of migrants who have no remittances or other resources to support their families.

Oxfam said the crisis is affecting communities across Guatemala, Honduras and El Salvador. The Central American Dry Corridor stretches through Costa Rica, Nicaragua, Honduras, El Salvador and Guatemala before reaching southern Mexico's Chiapas state. About 11.5 million people live there, and half depend on subsistence farming.

The assessment by Oxfam, partner organizations and Action Against Hunger involved 354 focus groups in 58 municipalities, with 4,260 participants. Its findings “reflect the situation of more than 91,000 rural households affected by the combination of drought, crop losses and accumulated vulnerabilities.”

reflect the situation of more than 91,000 rural households affected by the combination of drought, crop losses and accumulated vulnerabilities

— OxfamThe organization described the scope of the assessment across rural communities in three Northern Triangle countries.

The losses are particularly severe among maize producers. Oxfam reported that 78.6% of more than 70,000 maize-growing households lost between 75% and all of their harvest. Similar losses affected one-third of a comparable number of bean-producing households. Among households that still have maize reserves, 64.2% said those supplies would last three weeks or less.

Food stocks are running down as basic goods become more expensive and temporary rural work becomes harder to find. More than 23,000 households also reported reduced access to water from their main supply source, while many communities have seen major declines in river flows and community distribution systems. The evaluation recorded more than 6,200 migration movements during the three months before it was conducted. In Honduras, Oxfam highlighted “a phenomenon that concerns humanitarian organizations: the return of migrants without remittances,” adding pressure to households already facing severe hardship.

a phenomenon that concerns humanitarian organizations: the return of migrants without remittances

— OxfamThe organization identified migrant returns without financial support as an emerging pressure on affected households.
About this summary

Originally published by ABC Color in Spanish. Translated, summarized, and contextualized automatically by DistantNews, with a note on how the source frames the story. Not individually reviewed before publishing. How this works.

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