Drought Threatens Crops Livestock And Livelihoods

Belizean farmers are being urged to protect their crops, livestock and water supplies before a strengthening El Niño tightens its grip on the country. During a virtual conference today, agriculture officials and climate experts outlined practical steps to help producers withstand the hotter, drier months ahead, including better water management, climate-smart farming and stronger pest and disease control. Acting IICA Belize Representative Willie Chan warned that one of the most intense El Niño events in recent decades could threaten agriculture, food security and water availability across Belize and the wider region.

 

Willie Chan, Acting Representative, IICA Belize

“ This would place it among the most intense periods in recent decades, with impacts on water, agriculture production, hydroelectric power generation, logistics, for example, in the Panama Canal, and also pose a threat to public health, particularly in the Central American dry corridor where farmers will see losses in basic grain crops, and this, in turn, would compromise food security of the most vulnerable population. In addition to these negative effects on, on crops and the livestock sector, um, water, as I mentioned, will also be something that will be hindered. While the greatest impacts are expected between now, September 2026, and April 2027, the effects can last for several more months. So as you can see, the region’s vulnerability is structural in nature. That’s persistent rural poverty, low productive diversification, limited access to credit and agriculture insurance, and insufficient water infrastructure to buffer the inter-annual variability rainfall. These conditions make El Niño a multiplying factor of risk for food security in the competitiveness of the countries of the region.”

 

Chan explained that there is a ninety-seventh percent chance that El Nino will remain active until April 2027, and an eighty-one percent change that the event will reach the very strong category between November and January.

 

Attention readers: This online newscast is a direct transcript of our evening television broadcast. When speakers use Kriol, we have carefully rendered their words using a standard spelling system.

 

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