00:00According to the United Nations World Food Programme, 1.9 million Hondurans are suffering from food insecurity
00:06and the figure is rising due to the prolonged drought caused by El Niño phenomenon.
00:10Our correspondent Gerardo Torres Celaya reports from Tegucigalpa.
00:17In a regional report, the United Nations World Food Programme placed Honduras on red alert.
00:23As 1.9 million Hondurans, nearly 20% of the population, are experiencing food insecurity.
00:30This means they are unable to secure three daily meals containing the necessary nutrients.
00:36The Food and Nutritional Security Observatory of the National Autonomous University of Honduras
00:42concurs with these figures and notes an upward trend driven by the drought associated with El Niño phenomenon.
00:53The 1.8 million people being monitored were already facing a situation of prolonged food crisis.
01:01However, state institutions have reported that the households currently on red alert,
01:07comprising over 300,000 rural and more than 400,000 urban households,
01:13have now fallen into a state of food emergency.
01:17Consequently, due to the impact of various phenomena,
01:21the number of compatriots living with food and nutritional insecurity
01:24is expected to rise to 2 million by the end of the year.
01:29We know that the first harvest was lost,
01:32and in many parts of the dry corridor,
01:34farmers were unable to even plant the second crop.
01:43The government of Honduras also concurs with the data.
01:47However, it has canceled all the subsidy financial support
01:50in agricultural production credit programs
01:52that existed under the previous administration.
01:56For the current Minister of Agriculture,
01:58the situation is not that serious.
02:05What the WFP mentions is nothing new.
02:07Honduras faces a constant risk of food insecurity,
02:11which is not the same as going hungry,
02:13affecting roughly 17% of the population,
02:16regardless of whether it rains during the winter season.
02:20This means that around 1.6 to 1.7 million people
02:23are at risk of food insecurity.
02:26The impact of the drought on agriculture
02:28is driving up food prices,
02:30which have already risen by 30% since the start of the year
02:34due to the higher fuel costs,
02:37potentially exacerbating food insecurity
02:39for the country's poorest families.
02:44There has been a sharp rise in product prices recently.
02:48For instance, this week we saw price hikes
02:50for cabbage and cilantro,
02:52which is now at 20 lempiras or 80 U.S. cents due to the drought.
02:56Sweet peppers and almost all other vegetables
02:58have also gone up in price because of the drought.
03:03There are increases in fuel and insecticide costs,
03:09as well as the cost of water.
03:11Since it isn't raining, they have to buy water.
03:15So prices will go up further
03:16and fewer customers will come.
03:22The World Food Program is calling on the Honduran government
03:26to reactivate the Zero Hunger Program,
03:28a request that authorities say is currently under review.
03:32Meanwhile, 20% of the national population
03:35is suffering from food insecurity,
03:37and a prolonged drought threatens to push even more people
03:40into this situation.
03:42For Telesur in English, reporting from Tegucigalpa, Honduras,
03:45Gerardo Torres Zelaya.
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