Figure 1. Current estimated food security conditions FULL-SIZE IMAGE Source: MFEWS

The food security situation across the country is normal during this annual hunger period. The price of maize is higher than normal due to the effects of high international maize prices, but many families still have some cash remaining from the sale of labor during the last agricultural cycle. Conversely, in 37 municipalities in the south that are characterized by high structural food insecurity, 8,400 poor rural households have been affected more than normal by problems such as crop losses in the last harvest, increases in the price of maize and low demand for unskilled labor (Figure 1). These families require food aid, as well as seeds and inputs for the production of staple cereals when the rainy season starts.

An increase in the demand for unskilled labor is expected in June for the primera planting of maize, beans and local sorghum. This will enable poor rural households to increase their income and have better access to food. The 37 municipalities in the south will not benefit as much as other locations from the planting activities, though, as the structural demand for labor is low in that area.

Seasonal calendar

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Food and nutrition security

Approximately 475,000 poor rural households are currently undergoing the annual season of reduced access to food throughout the country, as a result of the depletion of staple cereal reserves at the household level, the few opportunities to generate income and the increase in price of the basic food basket. Most households have reduced the quantity of their food and are consuming food with less nutritional value. One or more members of many households have migrated to urban centers throughout the Central American region in search for work. Due to their poor economic situation, these households are not able to migrate to industrialized countries such as the U. S. or Spain.

These conditions are structural, and recur every year between April and August. The most critical months are April and May, since at this time there is almost no demand for unskilled labor and household food security is based exclusively on savings and cereal reserves, which are very limited for most poor families. This year, the consumer prices for maize and other foods harvested between October and March are abnormally high, especially due to the high international maize price. However, access to food has not yet been severely impacted by high prices, as a result of the income generated by the demand for labor in the agro-industry between October and March.

The generation of income will increase for most households in June with the beginning of the rainy season, as a result of the sale of labor in agricultural activities. Even though the availability of food is limited, most households will still manage to meet their dietary requirements. Nearly 500,000 producers began the 2007 primera productive cycle, planting more than 400,000 hectares of maize, 50,000 hectares of beans and 18,000 hectares of local sorghum, which is a normal amount of area planted and requires intensive labor.

Figure 2. Maize production by agricultural region/ municipalities facing high food insecurity FULL-SIZE IMAGE Note: red hashes indicate areas of high food insecurity. Light green indicates low maize productivity, green indicates medium productivity, and dark green indicates high maize productivity Source: INE Nov 2006; MFEWS, May 2007

The demand for unskilled labor for agricultural activities will be higher in the northern and mid-eastern regions of Honduras, where 53 percent of maize and nearly 44 percent of beans are produced nationally (see dark green areas in Figure 2). Thus, households facing high food insecurity in these municipalities will have an augmented capacity to purchase food, although the markets’ high prices will remain until the primera harvests come in August and September.

In the southern region, agricultural activity does not generate much demand for labor, as most of the staple cereal production in the south is subsistence-based, carried out on hillsides and with the household’s own labor. Therefore, short-term improvement of income or food access for poor rural households is not expected. The food security of 37 municipalities in the south will be particularly poor, as 8,300 subsistence-producing households that lost between 50 to 65 percent of their maize in the 2006 harvest could experience an above-normal reduction in their access to food. An abnormal increase in the number of children with global malnutrition (in terms of weight per age) is evident already; additionally, these children are at high risk of suffering acute malnutrition (in terms of weight per height).

The World Food Program, together with the Nutrition and Food Security Coalition partners and local government institutions, has started to distribute approximately 1,500 metric tons of food in response to the food security situation in these 37 southern municipalities, and to reduce the possibility of further increases in food insecurity. This aid is being distributed as supplementary feeding for children and pregnant and lactating women, food-for-training and food-for-work for initiate the production of staple cereals.

This food aid intervention needs to be complemented with the distribution of high-quality seeds and inputs for the primera planting, as given the previous recurrent harvest losses, households’ ownership of productive assets has deteriorated to the point that they now depend almost 100 percent on the government, NGOs and other institutions.

The nominal consumer price of maize still is significantly higher than the price last year and the five-year average. The price has continued increasing, but at a slower pace as of April compared to the November 2006 to March 2007 period, and with a stabilizing trend (Figure 3). Two factors have influenced this trend: a similar behavior in the international maize price, and an increase in the availability of maize of approximately 800,000 quintals of maize (1 quintal = 100 pounds) in the markets, produced in the apante harvest (the third-season crop) with funding and technical assistance from Secretariat of Agriculture Livestock.

Figure 3. Behavior of the price of maize in national and international markets
Consumer maize prices, Tegucigalpa and San Pedro Sula	Maize FOB prices, Kansas City Board of Trade
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Source: Prepared by MFEWS with data from SIMPAH/FIA, and JUANAC, May 2007