Honduras

In August, the primera cycle of maize and beans should have entered the harvesting stage, while the main sorghum and rice cycles should have entered the vegetation stage. The postrera cycle of maize and beans should start in this month. The primera season has experienced below average rainfall since the onset, leading to poor crop conditions in most cropping areas. The Secretary of State in the Offices of Risk Management and National Contingencies (COPECO), declared a Red Alert for 103 municipalities due to drought associated with the El Niño phenomenon, located in the departments of Choluteca, Comayagua, El Paraíso, Francisco Morazán, La Paz and Valle (COPECO). Around 1 million people are being directly affected by the drought (IFRC).In addition, the country is among the hardest hit by the increase in price of fuel, with around +60% year on year change. Prospects are not favourable for the entire second cycle of crops as, according to the Copernicus C3S Multimodel forecast, there is a very high probability that conditions will be very drier than normal across the country until the end of November.