Nicaragua (view map)

Nicaragua is one of the poorest nations in the western hemisphere with 45% of its 5.2 million population living below the poverty line. The country has one of the worst rates of malnutrition in Latin America with 28% of people affected. Although agriculture is central to the economy, financial support has tended to be directed at large-scale export crops such as coffee, sugar and tobacco.

Small scale farming has been reduced to subsistence levels which struggle to meet the minimal nutritional requirements for the Nicaraguan people, leaving it heavily reliant on expensive imports. Paradoxically the country imports food that it would have traditionally produced including maize, beans and vegetables.

Historically, agricultural exports mainly benefited a few elite families of Spanish descent, including the Somoza family, who ruled the country from 1937 until the Sandinista revolution of 1979. The Sandinistas redistributed land and improved health and education, but were subject to a counter-revolution by Contra rebels supported by the USA. When the Sandinistas were eventually defeated in the 1990 elections Nicaragua’s economy and infrastructure were in ruins.

Since 1990, heavy external debt, structural adjustment policies, widespread unemployment, political corruption, unfair trade regimes and natural disasters have given the Nicaraguan people little opportunity to escape the poverty trap. In 1998 Hurricane Mitch killed thousands, caused billions of dollars worth of damage and left 20% of the Nicaraguan population homeless.

SCIAF has been working in Nicaragua for over 20 years working with four partners to improve food security and health provision. SCIAF also responds to emergencies caused by natural disasters, supports post-conflict rehabilitation, and campaigns for the rights of people with disabilities.