Reference Date: 31-May-2012
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FOOD SECURITY SNAPSHOT
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Early prospects for the 2012 main season cereal crops are favourable
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Maize and bean prices lower than a year ago
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Early prospects for the 2012 main season cereal crops are favourable
Sowing of the main 2012 cereal crops, particularly maize, is now under way. Following a weakening of the la Niña phenomenon in April, generally normal weather conditions are expected during the cropping season. Rainfall in the first weeks of May was erratic and caused delays in sowing operations. However, weather forecasts suggest that precipitation will be more favourable in the next few months and very close to average throughout the country. In an effort to promote production in this agricultural season, in May the Government started to distribute 110 000 productive solidarity bonds (BSPs), or agricultural input packages that include maize and bean seeds, and fertilizers for smaller-scale producers. With this assistance, and favourable rainfall prospects in the next few months, the 2012 maize and rice harvests are set to be larger than in 2011.
Cereal import requirements decrease in the 2011/12 marketing year (July/June)
On average Honduras imports about 50 percent of its consumption needs. As a result of the good level of production achieved in 2011, cereal imports in the 2011/12 marketing year (July/June) are expected to be down by about 3 percent.
Maize and bean prices rise but are still lower than a year ago
Prices of white maize and red beans, the main food products in the country’s basic diet, rose in April and May, mainly owing to an increase in fuel prices. In Tegucigalpa, wholesale maize and bean prices in May were up by 33 percent and 45 percent, respectively, on their levels of a year earlier, having dropped sharply in the second half of 2011 when the main harvest came in. Rice prices have remained relatively stable throughout 2011 and in the first few months of 2012; and in May they were 3 percent lower than 12 months earlier.