El Niño in our garden

When Simon was born on Feb. 3, we happened to have a bunch of new papaya shoots popping up in our garden. It was a good time to experiment with papayas, as they need a relatively hot and dry climate for maximum growth. February is smack in the middle of the dry season, so we thought the little plants would get off to a good start. We were doubtful about ever getting a harvest, however. Papayas are apparently quite finicky with water - too much and they'll die. Since we normally get lots of rain between May and October, we thought it unlikely that our plants would survive.

Our one surviving papaya plant is actually doing quite well, in large part thanks to El Niño. No, it's not thanks to Simon, but rather the weather pattern. 2009 is another El Niño year, where warmer ocean currents in the Pacific cause changes in rainfall patterns. I (Alan) remember the El Niño year 1997-1998, when Los Angeles got an inordinate amount of rain. For Nicaragua in 2009, El Niño means the opposite: hotter, drier weather, and significantly less rain.

This is good for our papaya plant - it's shot up to about 7 feet tall (above) and is already showing some tiny papayas (below). But in general it's bad for Nicaragua's agriculture sector. Lots of small farmers are preparing for drought and wondering if the corn and bean harvests will provide enough for their families.