Highlights
In February 2013 a phitosanitary emergency is declared in consequence to the coffee leaf rust affecting the entire Central American Region. The International Coffee Organization (ICO) considers the current coffee leaf rust one of the worst epidemic events in up to today.
65,000 households of small coffee producers and 95,000 households of daily labourers are affected in the 2013/2014 harvesting cycle according to the Ministry of Agriculture, Livestock and Food).
The Secretariat for Food and Nutrition Security (SESAN) registered approximately 160,000 households affected by the impacts of the coffee leaf rust.
Climatic factors (erratic rain fall and prolonged dry spell in previous years) add to concerning situation, as they affect the production and the stocks of staple grains of vulnerable families.
WFP has calculated that currently at least 61,000 households are suffering from severe and moderate food insecurity and are in need of assistance (exact figures to be confirmed).
According to the Emergency Food Security Assessment (EFSA, September 2013), the most affected departments are: Chiquimula, San Marcos, Alta Verapaz, Jalapa, Jutiapa, El Quiché, Huehuetenango,
Zacapa, Baja Verapaz and Sololá.The present emergency is happening in a context with an extremely worrying nutritional situation –in Guatemala 49.8% of children under 5 years of age chronic malnutrition and 29.1% of pregnant women were anemic in the 2008.
