Attachments
Key Messages
- The poorest rural households in the Dry Corridor, Western Highlands, and Alta Verapaz regions are facing Crisis (IPC Phase 3) outcomes in September that are expected to persist at least until January. Facing a prolonged lean season, households continue to depend on market purchases of staple grains due to minimal or no reserves from their own harvest. As a result, households are resorting to coping strategies such as reducing food portions and atypical migration of more household members in search of income-generating opportunities. The seasonal increase in demand for agricultural labor will only minimally improve food consumption, as income will be allocated to debt repayment and purchase of staple foods at high prices.
- From October to February, most households currently facing Crisis (IPC Phase 3) outcomes are expected to transition to Stressed (IPC Phase 2). Average income from temporary agricultural labor opportunities in various commercial crops will allow these households to improve their access to food. These households will join other areas that will remain Stressed (IPC Phase 2), as they continue to be pressured by high prices for food, agricultural inputs, and transportation, forcing them to resort to strategies such as using savings and consuming less-preferred foods.
- The harvest of staple grains from the primera season typically begins between late August and early September. However, the delayed onset of rains caused farmers to delay and stagger planting, meaning that harvests will not begin until late September and early October. Additionally, high temperatures and irregular rainfall negatively impacted the crops, resulting in subsistence farmers, in particular, obtaining below-average yields, limiting the availability of food for consumption from their own production. National maize production is expected to be around average levels and bean production is expected to be below average.
- Food prices remain high, forcing households to allocate a larger proportion of their income for food. The prices of white maize and black beans, staple foods that are part of the traditional diet, showed no month-to-month variation; however, they are still 19 percent and 61 percent above average, respectively. Markets are well supplied with both grains, particularly with imported grains from Mexico, due to the shortfall in domestic products that has not reached the markets, owing to weather hazards that disrupted the usual planting times.
Recommended citation: FEWS NET. Guatemala Key Message Update September 2024: Delayed primera harvest extends lean season, 2024.