Guatemala's agricultural minister
announced on Thursday that half of this year's maize and bean crops have been destroyed because of a drought through which the country has been suffering in 2012. Eighteen of the country's twenty-two departments are experiencing a rainfall shortage.
Maize is the country's leading crop, with an average annual harvest of 1.67 million tons, while Guatemalan farmers produce nearly 200,000 tons of beans in a normal year.
More than 34,000 families make their living by cultivating maize or beans, according to the agriculture ministry, which quantified the economic cost of the destruction of the crops at 52 million quetzales ($6.6 million).
During the Colom years, the Guatemalan economy was also stung by severe climate conditions including tropical storms and droughts. Meanwhile, a recent report by the Coalition of NGOs and Cooperatives (
CONGCOOP) of Guatemala questions the slow implementation and lack of transparency and efficiency of the government's agricultural programs
