Central America Food Price Alerts: ALPS Methodology for Four Countries

A source of food price volatility alerts for Honduras, Nicaragua, Guatemala, and El Salvador based on the WFP's Alert for Price Spikes (ALPS) methodology. Produced by Acción contra el hambre - GIS4tech, it utilizes data from FEWS NET and WFP-VAM to categorize market conditions into four distinct stress levels. The data is current through March 2026 and focuses on basic food commodities in the Central American region.

Use Cases

• Identifying regional food insecurity hotspots using the ALPS 'crisis' and 'alert' labels
• Evaluating the impact of price shocks on basic food commodities in Honduras and El Salvador
• Validating economic models against standardized price deviation categories (normal, stress, alert, crisis)

Strengths

• Uses WFP's standardized ALPS methodology for objective price spike categorization
• Aggregates data from authoritative sources FEWS NET and WFP-VAM
• Covers four specific Central American countries: Honduras, Nicaragua, Guatemala, and El Salvador

Limitations

• Categorization is based on statistical deviation rather than qualitative market drivers
• Metadata does not specify the exact list of food commodities included

Provenance

Source

Famine Early Warning Systems Network (FEWS NET) and WFP's Vulnerability Analysis and Mapping (WFP-VAM)

Collection Method

Aggregated from existing food price monitoring systems and processed using ALPS methodology

Freshness

Updated as of March 2026.

Geography

Honduras, Nicaragua, Guatemala, and El Salvador