Data or statistical facts on the situation and perspectives of agri-food systems and the impact of policies
Prolonged drought during the 2026 Primera season destroyed 8,772 hectares of maize and 3,080 hectares of red beans in the Honduran departments of Lempira, Ocotepeque, Intibuca, and Comayagua (Dry Corridor). The Government of Honduras declared a state of drought on August 19, 2026, and issued a red alert over the agricultural losses.
Primera-season maize in Honduras and Nicaragua was rated 'Poor' (yields 5-25% below the 5-year average) due to prolonged dry spells and high temperatures. Guatemala and El Salvador are also showing concern over the same climate driver.
4 Central American countries, Guatemala, El Salvador, Honduras and Nicaragua, contain extensive areas of the Dry Corridor exposed to prolonged droughts and extreme rainfall associated with El Niño.
10.5 million people live in the Central American Dry Corridor and depend mainly on subsistence maize and bean farming, which is highly vulnerable to El Niño.
1.5 billion lempiras were allocated by Honduras to the 2026 Agricultural, Livestock and Coffee Production Incentives Program to strengthen food security and respond to climate emergencies.
Formal workers earned 4.4, 2.5 and 2.4 times more than informal workers in El Salvador, Honduras and Peru (OECD, 2024).
38.3 and 11.7 points were the extremes of the gender gap in Honduras and Uruguay (OECD, 2024).
73.9% of people lived in totally informal households in Honduras (OECD, 2024).
58% of greenhouse gas emissions in Latin America and the Caribbean originate from land use, land-use change, and the forestry sector, highlighting the significant weight of these activities in the region’s climate dynamics and the urgent need to strengthen mitigation efforts (World Resources Institute, 2024).
7% of forest cover was lost between 1990 and 2020 in Latin America and the Caribbean, equivalent to 138 million hectares, highlighting the scale of landscape degradation in the region and the urgency of advancing large-scale restoration and conservation efforts (World Resources Institute, 2024).
