El Niño Leaves 16 Million Facing Hunger in Central America as Peru Formally Ends Anchovy Season

A wire report published Sept. 12 tied together two of the year's worst El Niño-driven agricultural collapses. In Central America's Dry Corridor, an Oxfam/Action Against Hunger assessment found roughly 70,000 of the 73,000 farms that planted maize in the first 2026 growing cycle reported devastating harvests, with 78.6% of assessed households losing nearly their entire crop; bean harvests were similarly hit and more than 23,000 households reported reduced water access. Basic food prices between July-August 2025 and the same period in 2026 rose 11-54% in Guatemala, 12-40% in Honduras, and sugar prices jumped 85% in El Salvador. The findings build on the EU Joint Research Centre's Sept. 3 assessment that El Niño-driven crop failure was underway across Central America and East Africa, and follow Panama and El Salvador's Aug. 26 declarations of national drought emergencies alongside Honduras's earlier one. In Peru, the government formally closed the first anchovy fishing season on Aug. 19 after warm coastal waters pushed stocks north and to depth; May 2026 landings of 32,800 tonnes compared with 1.3 million tonnes a year earlier. Callao port fishing-union representative Pedro Martin said 'the boats are docked because of El Niño,' while National Fisheries Society president Jessica Luna said it remains unclear whether a second season can open in November as El Niño reaches full force.