BOGOTA (AlertNet) - The number of Guatemalans going hungry is set to rise as the Central American nation faces more food shortages after devastating floods washed away crops, aid agencies say.
Agatha, the first named storm of this year's Pacific hurricane season, lashed Guatemala, Honduras and El Salvador at the weekend, killing at least 180 people - most of them Guatemalan - and leaving tens of thousands homeless.
Strong winds and torrential rains in Guatemala, which recorded the highest rainfall in over 60 years, triggered landslides and severe flooding, washing away fields of maize, banana, sugar cane and coffee.
Ash spewing from the Pacaya volcano near the capital last week added to the damage to crops by covering them with a black layer of ash.
"We are facing a very difficult situation. Without doubt the food crisis is going to get worse and we can expect to see more cases of malnutrition," Rubelci Alvarado, programme manager with Save the Children, told AlertNet by phone from Guatemala City.
In April, the United Nations expressed concern over the poor donor response to its appeal for $34 million to provide assistance to around 680,000 hungry people.
Communities affected by the storm will be vulnerable to unstable food supplies, putting pressure on already dwindling food stocks, aid agencies say. They also fear disruption to harvests and increased food shortages in the coming months.
The Guatemalan government estimates that over a quarter of all maize crops, the country's staple food, have been damaged in the wake of the tropical storm.
"The result will be a lack of maize from August onwards, which will affect food security and job opportunities," Jorge Gonzalez, president of the National Maize Council, told the local press.
LONG-TERM HUNGER
Even before tropical storm Agatha pounded the country, Guatemala was struggling to feed its population.
In recent years, the country has relied on international food aid to stave off hunger, including a U.N. World Food Programme (WFP) scheme that feeds 350,000 Guatemalans.
One of the poorest countries in Central America, Guatemala has the world's fourth highest rate of chronic malnutrition, which affects almost half of children under five, according to the United Nations.
A combination of last year's severe drought, erratic rainfall, high food prices and a sharp drop in remittances amid the global economic crisis has weakened Guatemala's fragile food supply and left thousands of families too destitute to buy enough food.
Most at risk from hunger are an estimated 136,000 families living in the country's 'dry corridor' in central and eastern regions, who were already struggling before the storm.
Here Guatemala's most impoverished people, who survive mainly from subsistence farming, are still reeling from the 2009 drought - the worst in 40 years - which caused poor harvests and depleted food stocks.
"People in the dry corridor are still dealing with the impact of the last drought and are still recovering from it," said Save the Children's Alvarado. "The hunger situation there was already particularly serious before the hurricane and this has only made a bad situation into a critical one."
AID FOR STORM-HIT REGIONS
The storm hit Central America at the beginning of the lean season, the time between planting and harvest when food stocks are at their lowest.
"The lean months are always especially risky," said WFP spokesman Alejandro Lopez-Chicheri. "The last harvest in Guatemala was not ideal and during the past months many families have already used up all their food stocks."
The storm will reduce their coping mechanisms further, forcing the poorest to cut the number and size of meals, he added.
Humanitarian aid from 18 countries is arriving, including maize from Brazil and rice from Argentina, according to the Guatemalan government.
Earlier this week, the European Commission said it had allocated 3 million euros ($3.7 million) to help Central America cope with the aftermath of Agatha.
WFP is delivering food aid to 50,000 people living in Guatemala's most affected areas, and providing food rations to more than 9,000 people in Honduras.
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