WFP regional director to visit Honduras to assess El Niño drought impact

Lena Savelli, the World Food Programme’s regional director for Latin America and the Caribbean, will travel to Honduras next week as drought linked to El Niño intensifies in the country’s driest areas. She is scheduled to meet President Nasry “Tito” Asfura and assess the conditions facing affected communities.

Savelli will arrive on Sunday at what the WFP described as a “critical moment.” A lack of rain has hit central and southern Honduras, part of the Central American Dry Corridor, causing crop losses and creating difficulties for families dependent on subsistence farming.

During her visit, Savelli will inspect technical assistance and market-access projects for small agricultural producers under the Fresh Ration initiative. The program seeks to strengthen school feeding in municipalities affected by the drought.

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critical moment

The Honduran government has placed 103 of the country’s 298 municipalities under a red emergency alert. The water crisis threatens crops, livestock and supplies for human consumption. Cenaos, the country’s National Center for Atmospheric, Oceanographic and Seismic Studies, said Honduras continues to face “warmer and drier than normal conditions associated with a strong El Niño event,” with a cumulative rainfall deficit of between 100 and 200 millimeters.

The shortage has also worsened water conditions in Tegucigalpa, where authorities have tightened rationing as the main reservoirs serving the capital decline. The United Nations has mobilized $86 million to respond to the drought emergency, including $20 million announced in mid-August by its resident coordinator, Alejandro Álvarez.

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warmer and drier than normal conditions associated with a strong El Niño event