El Salvador’s Ministry of Agriculture and Livestock has delivered emergency aid to over 100,000 subsistence farming families devastated by severe climate disruptions linked to El Niño. Supported by international organizations including the World Food Programme (WFP), the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO), and the Inter-American Institute for Cooperation on Agriculture (IICA), the government initiated food basket distribution in the eastern region, where four prolonged droughts totaling 89 dry days have severely reduced basic grain harvests, vegetable production, and hydroelectric power generation.
To scale up emergency operations, the Salvadoran Legislative Assembly officially declared a national state of emergency on October 7. Deputy Minister of Agriculture Óscar Domínguez emphasized that the declaration enables authorities to reach significantly more vulnerable communities across the country. “Through the emergency declaration, we will significantly expand the number of beneficiaries,” Domínguez stated, highlighting the urgency of supporting rural families facing mounting climate resilience challenges.
Alongside immediate relief, El Salvador is accelerating a structural transformation of its agricultural sector to insulate crop production from future climate shocks. Under the flagship Production Increase Program, cultivated farmland has expanded from 130 to over 160,000 manzanas, incorporating high-yield seed varieties, modern mechanization, and advanced irrigation infrastructure across 3,500 hectares of high-density vegetable crops and 70% of basic grain fields.
These technological upgrades are already delivering remarkable harvest breakthroughs despite adverse weather. Tomato yields have surged up to six times previous production levels, while corn harvests jumped from 40 to 140 quintals per manzana and bean yields tripled from 15 to 50 quintals. “The results are visible in the crops,” Domínguez noted, reaffirming the government’s commitment to building long-term national food security through modern, climate-resilient farming techniques.