The following excerpt is from a January 6, 2010 article published by UN Dispatch. To view the article in its entirety, please click here.
In an interview with Guatemala’s Prensa Libre (Spanish), Irma Palma, the acting director of the World Food Programme field office, says that the WFP will be forced to send out a flash appeal in hopes of remedying a desperate food shortage in eastern Guatemala. A recent study completed for the UN Humanitarian Network concluded that 77 percent of families in effected areas would run out of food supplies in January or February. CERF funds that helped deliver 2,947 tons of food aid ran out in December.
Guatemala suffered its worst drought in 30 years last year, but, as Palma points out, lack of water is but one aspect of the problem. Food prices have increased while remittances dropped 20 percent in 2009, which can be directly linked to the economic situation in the U.S. Neighboring countries have faced similar issues, but Guatemala has the most dire shortage in the region.
Click here to read the rest of the article, or here to read more about the 2009/10 Food Crisis.
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