Less and more expensive food: El Niño threatens food production and fisheries in Latin America

The report examines the impacts of El Niño on food production, fisheries, and food security in Colombia, Mexico, and Argentina. In Colombia, an analysis by the Network for the Defense of Agrarian Reform estimates that 8,460,000 tonnes of food could be lost, equivalent to nearly 30 percent of national production, with crops such as maize, plantain, potatoes, rice, cassava, beans, and avocado at risk. In Mexico, abnormal Pacific Ocean warming is changing the distribution of fish, mollusks, and other commercial species and increasing risks for small-scale coastal fisheries, an activity on which more than 333,630 people directly depend. In northern Argentina, rainfall and flooding are affecting crops, livestock, and the food security of Indigenous Vilela communities. The article identifies advance public purchases, reserve management, credit and insurance for producers, and climate-adapted fisheries management plans as possible responses.