El Nino drought leaves Central America facing hunger

A powerful El Nino weather pattern is worsening drought, crop losses and hunger across parts of Central America, where farmers and residents described dead livestock, empty fields and rising food prices.

The affected Central American Dry Corridor includes parts of Honduras, Guatemala, El Salvador, Nicaragua and Costa Rica. United Nations figures say more than 10 million people live there and that 80 percent of small-scale producers in the corridor are poor.

In San Lorenzo, southern Honduras, residents said livestock were dying and families were cutting back on food. Farmer Darwin Cruz said he had sold two dairy cows since conditions intensified in June and that another had died. The Honduran village has seen around 100 cows die in recent months.

In El Matazano, in northeastern El Salvador, residents said a water tank that had supplied about 50 families was under growing strain after temperatures reached 42C. A tilapia project that had supported local food and income has been abandoned so water can be saved for more urgent needs.

In northern Guatemala, Indigenous leader Elvira Pasa said corn harvests in a remote village in Cunen municipality would be lost. Pasa said some villagers were already buying corn at prices 50 percent above normal.

El Nino raises surface temperatures in the central and eastern equatorial Pacific Ocean and can disrupt winds and rainfall. This year's event is expected to be the strongest since comparable records began four decades ago.

Lena Savelli, regional director of the UN World Food Programme, told AFP that 16 million people across Latin America could face food shortages due to El Nino. The climate phenomenon is predicted to peak at the end of the year, but experts said its consequences would stretch far into 2027.