The Director of Plan International Michael Diamond and World Food Programme Representative Helmut W. Rauch signed an agreement for technical collaboration on nutrition and food security.

Through this agreement, both organisations will conduct work together on nutrition, education, and support of small farmers and on programmes to benefit the most vulnerable populations.

“We are very excited to make this agreement with WFP, through which we will deepen and expand the impact of the work of both organisations,” says Diamond.

Source: Thomson Reuters Foundation - Fri, 3 May 2013 05:00 PM

LONDON (Thomson Reuters Foundation) – Leaders of Nicaragua's indigenous Mayangna community are battling an invasion of land speculators and small farmers into the Biosawas Biosphere Reserve, the second largest rainforest in the Americas, they said this week.

Read the full article on AlertNet.

With the lean season underway, acute food insecurity will remain Minimal

KEY MESSAGES

• The lean season is underway and will continue through August. Poor households are meeting their needs and will continue to have food access from own production from the Primera season (through late August/September), therefore remaining in Minimal acute food insecurity (Phase 1, IPC 2.0) through the end of the projection period, September 2013.

23 April 2013, Rome - FAO recognizes Nicaragua's great efforts in the fight against hunger, FAO Director-General, José Graziano da Silva told Nicaragua's Foreign Minister Samuel Santos López today. They held a bilateral meeting at FAO headquarters during FAO's governing Council session taking place this week.

Between 1990 and 2010, Nicaragua reduced the prevalence of undernourishment in the country from 55.1% to 20.1%, thus successfully meeting Millennium Development Goal 1, which is to halve the proportion of people suffering from hunger.

Food insecurity likely Minimal through the end of the consumption year

KEY MESSAGES

• Affordable consumer prices along with average income and average to near-average production levels in 2012 are likely to maintain Minimal acute food insecurity (Phase 1 IPC 2.0) throughout the consumption year, even with the onset of the normal lean season in May.

• Coffee rust prevalence is two to three times higher than usual. Labor demand will be significantly reduced in the following harvest (2013/2014).

The Ministry of Health (MINSA), in coordination with the World Food Programme (WFP), has given technical and scientific updates to fifteen nutrition clinics and health centers in Managua through virtual conferences, delivered by specialists from WFP.

The program of virtual conferences took place between April and December last year, and were a part of the technical assistance activities and strengthening of national capabilities which WFP provided the Nicaraguan Government through MINSA.

Maize, beans, and rice are the primary source of calories and protein in Nicaragua. Nicaragua has historically had a deficit of both maize and rice, but Nicaragua is a major exporter of beans in the region. Managua is the capital city and largest market.
Chontales and Rivas are major maize and bean assembly markets and serve as a key export gateways to Costa Rica. Rivas is the largest supplier for cross-border trade with Costa Rica.

12/27/2012 01:57 GMT

CHInandega, Nicaragua, Dec 26, 2012 (AFP) - Some 1,500 farmers living on the slopes of the San Cristobal volcano refused to leave Wednesday, despite being ordered to evacuate as the volcano spewed gas, sand and ash.

"People have not evacuated because we do not want to go and leave the area abandoned," Maria Pereira told AFP.

Pereira lives in "Grecia 4," a community of about 600 people at the base of the volcano, in the Chinandega department.

Maize, beans, and rice are the primary source of calories and protein in Nicaragua. Nicaragua has historically had a deficit of both maize and rice, but Nicaragua is a major exporter of beans in the region. Managua is the capital city and largest market. Chontales and Rivas are major maize and bean assembly markets and serve as a key export gateways to Costa Rica. Rivas is the largest supplier for cross-border trade with Costa Rica. León in the west and Esteli at north west are large markets with strong trade links to both Honduras and El Salvador.