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MEXICO FACES WORST DRY SPELL IN 40 YEARS; CROP, LIVESTOCK PRODUCTION THREATENED IN MANY AREAS.

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Mexico is facing its worst dry spell in 40 years, a situation that is threatening the country's crop and livestock production and ultimately its food security. The drought, which has affected almost all regions of Mexico, has already caused irreparable damage to more than 1.5 million hectares of cropland. Meteorologists say the dry conditions are tied in part to global climate change and the advent of the weather phenomenon El Nino, which tends to significantly reduce rainfall in Mexico. While Mexico has emerged from droughts in the past, there is concern that the recent dry spell may signal the beginning of a turn for the worse for the country's agricultural areas.

The dry conditions are affecting some areas more than others, with the worst symptoms evident in the northeast (Coahuila, Nuevo Leon, and Tamaulipas), the southern coastal states on the Pacific Ocean, from Colima to Chiapas to the Yucatan Peninsula, and the central highlands, including the Valley of Mexico, Guanajuato, and Zacatecas.

Conditions were already bad early in the year because precipitation had been spotty in previous months. But the extreme dry conditions during July might have doomed a lot of Mexico's crop production. Weather specialists say Mexico received about 99.1 millimeters (3.9 inches) of rain in July, making it the second-driest July since records were first kept in 1941.

The dry conditions in July are attributed...

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