Guatemala, known as a nation full of lush, verdant tropical rain forests, embedded in humanity’s oldest historical monuments, has been facing some of the worst food crises in the world, with almost 50% of children under five facing malnutrition and stunting every day.
Guatemala has been facing ongoing food shortage crises is due to economic management barriers at the political level, coupled with environmental issues such as prolonged drought and violent storms, which have set back small farms and families whose lives are dependent on farming, particularly in the last two years. (The Guardian, Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation)
Most recently, the business of growing palm trees for oil has overtaken farming land and increased the gap between rich and poor to exponential levels. According to the National Institute for Agrarian and Rural studies in Guatemala City, the amount of palm plantations given over to produce this ‘agrofuel’ has increased by over 146% between 2005 and 2010, with expansion going largely unregulated with transnational palm oil companies exporting the profits to industrialized nations. Now considered an “oil rush”, the new frontier has set its sights into the protected national forests. Other organizations say the movement has been so fast, only 10% of the palm farming is being mapped for public knowledge. Palm producers have been leasing the land for a period of 10 years, as this is how long the monocrop cultivation is expected to last before exhausting the soil.
Guatemala is a top exporter of food and biofuels, but almost 50% of its children under 5 years old remain malnourished, which results in having the fourth highest rate of chronic malnutrition in the world and the highest in Latin America and the Caribbean. An assessment pubished by the World Food Program in 2010 showed that 235,000 people in Guatemala were in need of emergency food aid after Tropical Storm Agatha and the Pacaua Volcano Eruption in May of 2010.
The nation faces a serious ongoing challenge to reduce chronic under-nutrition, and has reached ultimate crisis levels. The situation goes deeper than teaching women to farm, or improving access to resources, this malnutrition issue is imbedded economic, cultural, and political issues spanning decades and across political structures.
According to the World Food Programme, there are several reasons behind these rates: national health services cover approximately 60% of the country; most of the rural areas lack water and sanitation systems and have a limited access to an adequate diet due to income restrictions. In rural areas, the minimum wage covers around 75% of the basic food basket, and poverty reaches 70% of population.
Additionally, the nation’s recent string of natural disasters, which included hurricanes, earthquakes, floods, volcano eruptions, and frosts, caused extensive damage the farms and livelihoods of a population who was largely unprepared for such violent weather. Largely blamed on changing environmental climates, these disasters have caused extensive and long-term damage, such as the October 2008, Tropical Depression Nº 16, in which the resulting floods caused the loss of life, housing, crops and communication infrastructures, and affected more than 150.000 people.
As of June 2011, food security, rising prices, climate change, and a growing population continue to hamper efforts to improve the survival of women and children, according to The Guardian, UK, and food prices are expected to double by 2030, and the average of key crops will increase by between 120% and 180%, insisting that the increase will be caused by climate change, according to a new Oxfam report. (Haddadi, 5/31/11) Families in Guatemala living at the poverty level already spend over 30% of their income on basic foods, when they are accessible.
Go-MCH is developing a Guatemala Nutrition Program that will examine sustainable solutions to improve accessibility to reliable and nutrition foods for impoverished women and children. For more information, visit www.Go-MCH.org
The Global Organization for Maternal & Child Health Blog 