El Nino adds food shortage to ongoing political crisis in Haiti.
| Autor | Rodriguez, George |
In its habitual crisis scenario, Haiti is facing the imminent prospect of a massive shortage of food, its worst in 15 years, which could add to the ongoing political chaos caused by a repeatedly postponed runoff to the October presidential vote.
The outlook for the impoverished majority of the people of this French- and Creole-speaking Caribbean nation is bad. Almost 80% of Haiti's 10.6 million nationals live in poverty, and just around 70% in extreme poverty, miraculously surviving on less than US$2 a day. In rural Haiti, where a little over half of Haitians live, poverty is almost 90% and extreme poverty reaches around 70%.
According to a recent warning by the World Food Program (WFP), the United Nations' specialized anti-hunger agency, the grim outlook derives from the global El Nino weather phenomenon, which has intensified the three-year drought that has severely hit Haitian farmers, who are about to lose their fourth consecutive harvest. Estimates released by the WFP on Feb. 9 indicate that up to 70% of the crops were lost last year.
The warning and the figures were included in the Emergency Food Security Assessment (EFSA) the WFP conducted along with the UN Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) and the government's Coordination Nationale de la Securite Alimentaire (National Food Security Coordination Unit, CNSA).
According to the EFSA, approximately 3.6 million Haitians are already facing food insecurity, almost half of them described in the study as "severely food insecure"--the latter implying the threat of suffering malnutrition.
"This is really a severe food crisis," warned Wendy Bigham, WFP Deputy Director for Haiti, who added that the country is seeing the malnutrition rates dramatically increase, having doubled in six months. "Without rain for the 2016 spring season, farmers will lose their fourth consecutive harvest on which they normally depend to feed their families," Bigham predicted on Feb. 9. "We need to help them meet their immediate needs and help build up their resilience."
Assistance to families
According to WFP figures, since November, the UN's specialized agency has been distributing food to some 120,000 Haitians in the areas worst hit by the drought. The food aid consists a two-month ration, including rice, oil, sugar, salt, and other items, for a five-member family, it added in a recent press release.
As a component of its urgent action in the country, the WFP also supports a program of school meals for 500,000...
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