El Salvador loses $100 million worth of crops due to drought

A drought in El Salvador has led to the loss of corn and bean harvests worth $100 million in the months of June and July, the government says.

According to El Salvador’s Ministry of Agriculture and Livestock, the new figure is more than the $70.1-million in losses from last year’s drought.

The government also announced plans to distribute seeds to hard-hit farmers.

“I can say that 4.7 million quintals (213 million kilograms) of corn were lost (...); this may be around $100 million in losses,” Agriculture Minister Orestes Ortez said.

A study by the Ministry of Agriculture and Livestock found that 85,656 hectares of corn were lost in whole or in part due to the lack of rain this summer.

This year’s drought in the country has affected 262 towns and 102,609 farmers.

The ministry has so far distributed 117,400 packets of bean seeds to subsistence farmers to help spur crop production between August and November.

Many Central American and Caribbean countries are facing major crop losses because of a weather phenomenon called El Nino, which refers to the abnormal warming of surface waters in the tropical sections of the Pacific Ocean every three to five years.

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