Key Messages
- In Haiti, poor conditions — including gang violence, inflation, and drought — continue to limit poor households’ access to adequate income and their ability to mitigate food consumption gaps. As a result, Crisis (IPC Phase 3) outcomes are widespread across the country. Cité Soleil, however, remains in Emergency (IPC Phase 4) due to gang violence and insecurity that is cutting off humanitarian access and disrupting economic activity and the ability to access livelihoods and generate income. food consumption.
- According to CARDH, kidnappings have increased in the first quarter of the year across Haiti by more than 72 percent compared to 2022 and 173 percent compared to 2021. Not only does this impact the capital and dense urban areas, but rural areas also experience disrupted trade flow due to violence, limiting households’ ability to reach markets. Meanwhile, the macroeconomic situation and taxes imposed by gangs have doubled food prices in March, compared to the five-year average. Prices are not expected to decline with the upcoming spring harvest, given the continued forecast for below-average rainfall and likely below-average maize, bean, and rice harvests in June and July.
- In Central America, most rural areas are expected to remain Stressed (IPC Phase 2) through September as agricultural labor opportunities decrease and as atypical high food prices limit their purchasing power, just as they are most market dependent with the progression of the lean season. However, very poor households in the Dry Corridor of Guatemala, Western Altiplano, and Alta Verapaz department in Guatemala, are also carrying atypical debts and no reserves of staple grains for their consumption, forcing them to already apply coping strategies that put their livelihoods at risk to mitigate food consumption gaps, resulting in their classification in Crisis (IPC Phase 3) until September. Additional households and areas, particularly in the Dry Corridor of Guatemala, Honduras, and El Salvador, are also expected to deteriorate to Crisis (IPC Phase 3) during the peak of the lean season, driven by below-average labor demand and high prices.
- In February, wholesale prices for maize remained stable across the region compared to January, while bean prices were stable in Guatemala and Nicaragua, and El Salvador and Honduras reported increases of 8.7 and 9.5 percent, respectively. However, prices for both products remained atypically high compared with last year and the five-year average. This trend is due to increased production costs, greater local demand due to below-average harvests for small-holder farmers, and negative impacts related to speculation and hoarding. Beginning in March, prices are expected to see seasonal increases until the arrival of the primera harvest in late August or early September.
- Farmers are currently preparing their land to plant for the primera season; however, forecasts indicate an irregular start of the rainy season, with rainfall tending to decrease to below average with the progression of the season and temperatures rising to above-average levels. This combination of climatic factors is likely to delay the start of the season, and negatively impact crop development for subsistence farmers and reduce the demand for local agricultural labor.
Source : Relief Web
