According to an assessment of food security and nutrition in the 45 municipalities conducted by the World Food Program (WFP), with support from FAO, the Ministry of Health and NGOs, stocks of corn and beans from these communities will be sold out come February.

Household income covers only 60% of the value of a daily meal, and 86% of the affected states have trouble covering it with money received in large part by remittances. Crops and wages fell by 55% in the past four months.

This difficult scenario has seriously affected the harvest season.

Food production is limited due to high environmental degradation, periodic unsuitable climate conditions, and low soil fertility and water absorption capacity. Given the current lack of alternatives of income generation due to the severe economic crisis, the situation is jeopardizing the population’s food and nutritional security. It is estimated that 7,000 households are in a severe food shortage.

In response to this, the Central Emergency Relief Fund (CERF) has allocated $1.5 million to humanitarian agencies in Honduras. The World Food Program (WFP) will use $825,000 to provide emergency food assistance for approximately 21,000 people affected by food and nutritional insecurity in the southern region.

The United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) will use $149,000 for emergency therapeutic feeding to 800 severely acute malnourished children and $142,000 for water, sanitation and hygiene programs for 10,000 people.

The Pan American Health Organization (PAHO)/World Health Organization (WHO) will use $139,000 for emergency nutritional surveillance and dissemination of critical health information to 70,000 families, including children, pregnant, and nursing women affected by the drought.

In 2010, $281,000 was allocated to the Food and Agricultural Organization (FAO) to reactivate livelihoods of 3,200 small farmers affected by drought in the southern region.