tag:reuters.com,2024:binary_LOA891523082024RP1-PREVIEW:48000:MP3 mpeg tag:reuters.com,2024:binary_LOA891523082024RP1-STREAM:22.050:MP3 mpeg tag:reuters.com,2024:binary_LOA891523082024RP1-STREAM:48000:M4A aac tag:reuters.com,2024:binary_LOA891523082024RP1-STREAM:48000:MP3 mpeg tag:reuters.com,2024:binary_LOA891523082024RP1-STREAM:48000:WAV wav tag:reuters.com,2024:binary_LOA891523082024RP1-STREAM:48000M:WAV wav tag:reuters.com,2024:binary_LOP891523082024RP1-BASEIMAGE:960X540 jpegBaseline tag:reuters.com,2024:binary_LOP891523082024RP1-THUMBNAIL:160X90 jpegBaseline tag:reuters.com,2024:binary_LOP891523082024RP1-THUMBNAILGRID jpegBaseline tag:reuters.com,2024:binary_LOP891523082024RP1-VIEWIMAGE:512X288 jpegBaseline tag:reuters.com,2024:binary_LOV891523082024RP1-STREAM:1756:16X9:MP4 H264/mpeg tag:reuters.com,2024:binary_LOV891523082024RP1-STREAM:2000:16X9:MP4 H264/mpeg tag:reuters.com,2024:binary_LOV891523082024RP1-STREAM:300:16X9:FLV flashVideo tag:reuters.com,2024:binary_LOV891523082024RP1-STREAM:300:16X9:MP4 H264/mpeg tag:reuters.com,2024:binary_LOV891523082024RP1-STREAM:5128:16X9:MP4 H264/mpeg tag:reuters.com,2024:binary_LOV891523082024RP1-STREAM:512:16X9:FLV flashVideo tag:reuters.com,2024:binary_LOV891523082024RP1-STREAM:6756:16X9:MPG mpeg tag:reuters.com,2024:binary_LOV891523082024RP1-STREAM:700:16X9:FLV flashVideo tag:reuters.com,2024:binary_LOV891523082024RP1-STREAM:700:16X9:MP4 H264/mpeg tag:reuters.com,2024:binary_LOV891523082024RP1-STREAM:8256:16X9:MP4 H264/mpeg tag:reuters.com,2024:binary_LOV891523082024RP1-STREAM:8256M:16X9:MP4 H264/mpeg tag:reuters.com,2024:binary_LOV891523082024RP1-STREAM:CLOSEDCAPTION:SRT srt tag:reuters.com,2024:binary_LOV891523082024RP1-STREAM:CLOSEDCAPTION:VTT vtt tag:reuters.com,2024:binary_LOV891523082024RP1-STREAM:SHOTLIST:JSON json tag:reuters.com,2024:binary_LWD891523082024RP1-STREAM:13756:16X9:HD1080I50:MP4 mp4 tag:reuters.com,2024:binary_LWD891523082024RP1-STREAM:13756:16X9:HD1080I60:MP4 mp4 tag:reuters.com,2024:binary_LWD891523082024RP1-STREAM:1756:16X9:MP4 mp4 tag:reuters.com,2024:binary_LWD891523082024RP1-STREAM:2128:16X9:MP4 mp4 tag:reuters.com,2024:binary_LWD891523082024RP1-STREAM:6756:16X9:SD525I30:MPG mpeg tag:reuters.com,2024:binary_LWD891523082024RP1-STREAM:6756:16X9:SD625I25:MPG mpeg tag:reuters.com,2024:binary_LWD891523082024RP1-THUMBNAILGRID jpegBaseline tag:reuters.com,2024:binary_LWD891523082024RP1-VIEWIMAGE:768X432 jpegBaseline SAN AGUSTIN ACASAGUASTLAN, Guatemala (Reuters) - Drought and crop failure are a pervasive threat in Guatemala where hunger and malnutrition run rampant, particularly in rural areas - a reality that international aid programs are trying to curb.
Workers from the U.N.'s World Food Program are aiming to train people in Guatemala's rural countryside on sustainable farming practices to help combat malnutrition.
Guatemala straddles a region known as the Central American Dry Corridor where, over the past decade, droughts have been longer and more severe, and extreme weather events like hurricanes have been causing widespread damage.
This puts families living in the Dry Corridor, particularly small and medium-sized farmers and Indigenous people, in vulnerable situations unable to properly feed their children.
Guatemala's rate of stunting is consistently one of the highest in Latin America, UNICEF data shows. In 2022, 44 percent of children in Guatemala fell outside of the normal height-for-age range.
"Before we didn't know what fish farming was. There was a lot of malnutrition here," said Lilian Ramos, a fish producer in the Tecuiz community of San Agustin Acasaguastlan, a town in the Dry Corridor.
Her young children accompany her to a pond where she tosses in a net, retrieving multiple fish.
"We started with a small well and we saw how we grew little by little," Ramos added.
The World Food Program training emphasizes the use of innovation and anticipatory actions to minimize damage to crops and food sources, enabling community farms to endure difficult weather challenges and continue producing.
"We do see some improvements ... it is an excellent model that, even in terms of permeation, is an example for other countries that are also facing challenges from climate change," said Tania Goossens of the World Food Program in Guatemala.
(Reporting by Josue Decavele; Writing by Cassandra Garrison; Editing by Sandra Maler)