The World Food Programme (WFP) says its early drought measures have reached more than 409,000 people in Central America’s Dry Corridor, as the El Niño climate pattern raises the risk of poor rains. UN News described the effort in a report published Nov. 14, 2026.
The Dry Corridor is a drought-prone region across parts of Guatemala, Honduras, El Salvador and Nicaragua. According to the report, more than seven million people there do not have guaranteed access to food. When crops fail, families face a choice between going hungry and migrating.
El Niño is a natural climate pattern that occurs when surface water in the central and eastern Pacific Ocean is warmer than usual. The World Meteorological Organization says the current event could be stronger than any before it. In Central America, it is raising the risk of below-average rainfall and drought.
WFP, a United Nations agency, started warning of El Niño in April, ahead of the main planting season. It also gave cash assistance to the families most at risk. As drought conditions worsened, it stepped up its emergency response, and more than 470,000 people across Central America now receive food and cash aid from the agency, according to WFP.
Lena Savelli, WFP’s Regional Director for Latin America and the Caribbean, wrote that “preparing for disaster costs far less than rebuilding after.”
In Palagua, in southwestern Honduras, dry seasons can last five or six months. A project supported by WFP built a reservoir and irrigation systems so farmers can store water for the dry months. Farmers had to contribute the land, and 73-year-old Anastacio Martínez Gómez gave five manzanas, about 3.5 hectares.
The project also included training. Martínez and other farmers spent three weeks at the Pan-American Agricultural School, known as Zamorano, learning methods such as raising tilapia and growing plantains. The Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) provided tools. Martínez now grows a wider range of crops, has about 80 mango trees and three fish ponds, and can harvest in both the rainy and dry seasons.
In Camotán, in Guatemala’s Chiquimula Department, a community grain bank was funded by the UN Central Emergency Fund. WFP provided the first stock of maize and beans, and residents now buy, sell and restock the grain themselves. Marta Ávalos, who helps organize the community’s response, said families once made a round trip of about an hour to the municipal market, costing around 70 quetzales (about $9). Most of the hamlet’s 200 families now buy grain from the community’s two banks.
Other groups also contributed in Camotán. FAO gave out hens and farm tools. The Ministry of Agriculture provided vegetable seeds, and the municipality added fertilizer. The United Nations calls such steps anticipatory action, meaning measures taken ahead of an expected crisis to reduce its impact.
The report did not say who paid for the Honduras reservoir or what it cost.