“Cases of acute child malnutrition have skyrocketed”: Covid-19 is compounding the precarious situation of Trifinio residents
San Jose, 30 October 2020 (IICA) – The region surrounding the shared border between El Salvador, Honduras and Guatemala, known as Trifinio, is one of the poorest in the Western Hemisphere. Living conditions in the community, which is mainly indigenous, are unacceptable for the XXI century and child malnutrition is rampant.
However, a joint initiative by the European Union (EU), the Central American Integration System (SICA), the Inter-American Institute for Cooperation on Agriculture (IICA) and the Mancomunidad Trinacional Fronteriza del Río Lempa (MTFRL), will assist 1500 families to alleviate the problems of food and nutrition insecurity, which the Covid-19 pandemic has compounded.
Héctor Alonso Aguirre, General Manager of MTFRL—a legally constituted entity under public law that implements local public policies for the transborder region—discussed the situation in the region and the expected impact of this joint action plan.
How would you describe the current situation in the region under MTFRL’s jurisdiction?
In general, hunger is commonplace in the Trifinion region. More or less 25 years ago, a famine was declared in the region of the Chortí ethnic group in Guatemala and the conditions have not changed significantly.
In some indigenous communities in Olapa—in Guatemala’s Chiquimula district—where we have been distributing food, you may find a mud hut, for example, where the occupants shield themselves from the inclement weather, surrounded by a roof and walls made of straw. The kitchen, which is located to one side, contains two worn-out pots and a wood-burning stove made of four bricks; this is also where the family sleeps. There are no latrines and the family of two adults and seven children has nothing to eat. What we bring them may allow them to exist for the next 15-20 days. Their neighbor lives some 15 meters away, also with no latrine. Imagine the overflow of feces. It is difficult to understand this type of human existence. And this is one example of many.
When there is no food, the entire family suffers, but the children suffer more. This stunts their growth, causing them to be under-weight and to develop conditions such as Kwashiorkor—due to insufficient protein in their diet—among others.
A phenomenon like the Covid-19 pandemic magnifies these problems. For example, cases of acute malnutrition have skyrocketed and a child under five years old with acute malnutrition is a child on the path to death. That child could die within 10 to 15 days.
It is a mountainous region, making the land unsuitable for agriculture. However, this is the only available land for farming and so they farm the hillsides. Thus, year on year cultivation of subsistence crops such as corn and beans, gradually damages the soil conditions, leaving only a thin layer of rocky soil at the end of three or four years. The climate change that has affected the region in the last five years has further aggravated the situation.
The inhabitants must travel long distances to the municipal center, by vehicle or on foot, which may take half a day. These families exist under very adverse conditions.
How has the Covid-19 pandemic worsened the situation in the region?
The shutting down of the economies and closure of markets caused many small farmers to lose any production that they had. They lost crops, due to the lack of workers and markets To make matters worse, not only were the economies shut down and the movement of labor restricted, many were dealt another blow with the arrival of Tropical Storms Amanda and Christopher, which flattened their crops, forcing them to replant.
Another factor is that the inability of people to go out and work had a significant impact on the income-work ratio, because many of these farmers sell their labor. This forced many families to exist without food in April and May. Various institutions began to distribute food. We did it in July. Among all of us, we have been able to mitigate the food shortage situation.
We have food insecurity data for May, which already reflects the impact of Covid-19. In October 2019, we undertook an analysis that revealed that there were 120,000 people in food insecure households – in Phase 3 (crisis) and Phase 4 (emergency) and on the cusp of Phase (5), which is famine. In May, we found that there had been a 15-20% increase, making it 140,000 families living under food crisis conditions.
What impact do you believe that this joint plan by the EU, SICA and IICA will have?
The plan will benefit 1500 families in 17 municipalities across three countries: four in El Salvador, five in Honduras and eight in Guatemala.
With these families and others that we had already been assisting under the Euroclima program of the European Union, we will have a total response capacity to benefit approximately 10,000 people in three countries, by enabling them to regain their production capacity in some way and to be better equipped to tackle this health crisis.
These efforts are important, because they aim to assist the most vulnerable families to revive their agricultural production in some small way. The first step is to assist in the production of basic grains, such as corn and beans. Secondly, we provide support for the planting of kitchen gardens, by informing families about how to use their backyards to improve their food production capacity.
We are also going to supply them with open pollinated seeds or local seeds that will allow for the production of between five and seven varieties of vegetables in their plots—plants with a high nutritional value, such as black nightshade—because the region falls within the Dry Corridor and the climate conditions may not be extremely favorable in the second year.
In Central America, our relationship with nature has been disrupted in every way. Many years ago, our parents had the custom of planting medicinal or food plants in their gardens. We have been losing this habit and have reached the point where we longer grow food in our kitchen gardens, our garden, or on our patio. That is why we are attempting to revive these somewhat ancestral practices. We are losing our customs. For example, chipilín soup is only eaten on rare occasions (chipilín is a legume that it typical to Central America and southern Mexico).
The third action we will take is to give a percentage of the families a supply of high resistant poultry—10 local free-range hens and 2 roosters—to provide animal protein, such as eggs. We are already implementing these actions in some families and with IICA’s plan we will incorporate more, making it a total of 3,500 families that will have access to the kitchen garden project and the poultry initiative.
What challenges do you foresee in implementing this project?
The actions require that we provide technical assistance amidst the difficulties posed by the pandemic. Nothing has changed, except that we are outside and wearing masks, while using new methods, such as the cascade training model; we train leaders and they train others, who, in turn, trade others. We are trying to figure out how to provide technical assistance in a way that reduces contact among persons.
Bear in mind that there are high levels of illiteracy. Many families speak indigenous languages; they understand Spanish but cannot speak it. We are re-inventing ourselves to offer them assistance. Our work at the rural development level requires extensive social interaction, which is something that Covid-19 and social distancing has done away with completely. In order to improve community conditions, you have to jump in and move through the phases of development with the community, going through the process with the people.
When these conditions are disrupted by a pandemic, it is as if you are leaving the community behind and you have to reinvent your approach in order to return for them, even while reducing your level of contact.
We feel it is important that IICA recognizes MTFRL as an entity that is making our own efforts in a region in which we are all working. We are delighted to work together and look forward to continued collaboration.
These are the municipalities that are covered under this action plan:
In El Salvador:
Department of Chalatenango
1.- Dulce Nombre de María
2.- San Fernando
3.- Citala
Department of Santa Ana
4.- Candelaria de la Frontera
In Honduras:
Department of Ocotepeque
5.- Ocotepeque
6.- Sinuapa
7.- Santa Fe
8.- La Labor
9.- Sensenti
In Guatemala
Department of Chiquimula
10.- Esquipulas
11.- Olopa
12.- Jocotán
13.- Camotán
14.- San Juan Ermita
Department of Jutiapa
15.- El Progreso
16.- Santa Catarina Mita
17.- Asunción Mita
More information:
Institutional Communication Division
comunicacion.institucional@iica.int