Rainfall data from eastern Nepal collected over the past 70 years point to a strong <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/here-now/the-waste-land">correlation between chronic drought and outmigration</a>. Repeated and more frequent monsoon failures forced more and more people to abandon villages.&nbsp; Terathum, Dhankuta, Panchthar and Taplejung districts lost more than 40% of their population between 2001 and 2021. Archival data of the Department of Hydrology and Meteorology shows that rainfall was below the annual national average for almost every year since the 1960s in what is supposed to be the wettest part of the country.&nbsp; In Panchakanya village of Terathum 40% of residents left in those 20 years. A nearby village, Thoklung, lost 42% of its population. Across the Tamor River, 44% of the people left the village of Kurule. A third of the inhabitants of Symbarumba in Panchthar left for the plains or cities.&nbsp; “People are still leaving. Those who have not migrated are also thinking about going down to Dharan or Damak,” says Chathar Ward 4 Chair Pushpa Karki, who says there were 2,500 votes cast in this ward in 2017 and in the 2022 local election there were only 1,125 ballots.&nbsp; Read also: <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/here-now/the-climate-crisis-is-a-water-crisis-in-the-himalaya">The climate crisis is a water crisis in the Himalaya</a>, Sonia Awale To be sure, there are other factors behind this exodus which is happening right across Nepal’s mountains, such as a dearth of well-paying jobs, poor health care, and few opportunities for higher education. But the main reason is that <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/news/high-and-dry">droughts</a> destroy crops.&nbsp; “There was a severe drought in the summer of 2018, the maize plants dried in their stalks and turned to straw,” remembers Tara Kharel Dhakal, Deputy Mayor of Chathar in Terathum. “People ran out of food and were desperate. We declared an emergency.”&nbsp;  <figure> <img src="https://publisher-publish.s3.eu-central-1.amazonaws.com/pb-nepalitimes/swp/asv65r/media/20240406020432_abeec2acd7e0b1986c5a101109365ea57f70e81925fb522a5e2edf191eefbd98.jpg" data-media-id="editor_3" data-image-id="20240406020432_abeec2acd7e0b1986c5a101109365ea57f70e81925fb522a5e2edf191eefbd98" data-rendition-name="original" width="1500" height="1000" loading="lazy" alt="Climate → crisis → drought → food → deficit → migration"> <figcaption>HIGH AND DRY, LOW AND WET: Parched fields above the Tamor River in Panchakanya village in eastern Nepal in March (above) and irrigated bamboo-fringed terrace farms in Taplejung.</figcaption> </figure>   <figure> <img src="https://publisher-publish.s3.eu-central-1.amazonaws.com/pb-nepalitimes/swp/asv65r/media/20240406020432_d56cdd7be3761fac279a5add402d766cceef89bf1a535066acd30576e81b8613.jpg" data-media-id="editor_4" data-image-id="20240406020432_d56cdd7be3761fac279a5add402d766cceef89bf1a535066acd30576e81b8613" data-rendition-name="original" width="1500" height="1000" loading="lazy" alt="Climate → crisis → drought → food → deficit → migration"> </figure>  Rainfall data for Terathum in 2018 corroborates that there was almost no rain in winter, and to make things worse, the district only saw half of its usual rain that monsoon.&nbsp; The rainfall gauges are located near the tops of mountains, where there is usually more precipitation. So the slopes below likely got even less rain than was recorded.&nbsp; Farmers had no irrigation systems to fall back on. <a href="https://archive.nepalitimes.com/article/nation/Recharging-the-mountains,3465#google_vignette">Springs are rare and have gone dry,</a> and the Tamor River is too far down the mountain.&nbsp;  <figure> <img src="https://publisher-publish.s3.eu-central-1.amazonaws.com/pb-nepalitimes/swp/asv65r/media/20240406020444_9d23945324a19dfcecf26cafe19a9ac9cc4a11abfde5bde9e4bbbea9c64ca916.jpg" data-media-id="editor_6" data-image-id="20240406020444_9d23945324a19dfcecf26cafe19a9ac9cc4a11abfde5bde9e4bbbea9c64ca916" data-rendition-name="original" width="1500" height="1000" loading="lazy" alt="Climate → crisis → drought → food → deficit → migration"> <figcaption>BROWN AND GREEN: Constrasting colours of fields in Terathum between those without irrigation (foreground, above), and with irrigation from a side stream. The glacier-fed Tamor River has plenty of water in the dry season (below) but it is too far down to be pumped up the mountain.</figcaption> </figure>   <figure> <img src="https://publisher-publish.s3.eu-central-1.amazonaws.com/pb-nepalitimes/swp/asv65r/media/20240406020444_d31629e168b47eb330543f3f3ac992778bccea52fe32446a776580194b143214.jpg" data-media-id="editor_7" data-image-id="20240406020444_d31629e168b47eb330543f3f3ac992778bccea52fe32446a776580194b143214" data-rendition-name="original" width="1500" height="1018" loading="lazy" alt="Climate → crisis → drought → food → deficit → migration"> </figure>  Prevailing wisdom suggests that Nepal is drier the more west you go, and <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/banner/how-the-climate-crisis-adds-to-child-marriage-in-nepal">the Karnali and Sudur Paschim regions are most drought prone</a>. Outmigration due to water scarcity in Mustang district has emptied villages. But it looks like the climate crisis is causing dry spells even in the usually wet mountains of eastern Nepal.&nbsp; Only a quarter of arable land in Nepal is irrigated, and most of that is in the Tarai. Subsistence farmers in the mountains depend on rain-fed agriculture, so when it does not rain their only option is to migrate for work. Rainfall data from measuring stations over the past 50 years or more across the eastern mountains shows that winter rain and monsoon failures have become more frequent.&nbsp; y nly 80% of the normal annual rain fell in 2018 in Mulghat, and the corn and buckwheat harvests were reduced in nearby Kurule. The local government gave cash handouts to farmers, but this did not convince people to stay. <div class="embed-block"><iframe title="Tamor river discharge at Mulghat" aria-label="Interactive line chart" id="datawrapper-chart-8t8ts" src="https://datawrapper.dwcdn.net/8t8ts/2/" scrolling="no" frameborder="0" style="width: 0; min-width: 100% !important; border: none;" height="396" data-external="1"></iframe><script type="text/javascript">!function(){"use strict";window.addEventListener("message",(function(a){if(void 0!==a.data["datawrapper-height"]){var e=document.querySelectorAll("iframe");for(var t in a.data["datawrapper-height"])for(var r=0;r<e.length;r++)if(e[r].contentWindow===a.source){var i=a.data["datawrapper-height"][t]+"px";e[r].style.height=i}}}))}(); </script></div> In an average year, Jhapa and Ilam in the east get about 3,300mm of rain. Kathmandu Valley sees about 1,400mm, and Darchula in the far-west receives 700mm. The least precipitation is in <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/banner/mustang-forced-to-adapt-to-climate-crisis">Mustang</a> and <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/banner/climate-change-is-a-disaster-in-the-nepal-himalaya">Dolpo in the trans-Himalayan rainshadow</a>, although even these districts have seen some freak rainfall of late.&nbsp; Even though the total annual precipitation may still be the same, often the quality of rain is different: there are damaging torrential downpours and then weeks of no rain at all.&nbsp; Watershed expert Madhukar Upadhya describes eastern Nepal’s micro-climates, where wide variations exist even within small geographical areas: “The clouds tend to drop most of their moisture on the southern slopes of the Mahabharat Range, so there is less rain on the other side.”&nbsp; Dharan, for instance, gets 1,700mm of rain, but 15km to the north in Mulghat, the annual precipitation is half that.&nbsp; Elderly farmers can recite from memory the years in which rains have failed: 1961, 1965, 1972, 1975, 1982, 1994. Their recollections tally with archival precipitation data for the region. For example, there was a downpour that dumped 385mm of rain on 23-24 June 1961, but for the next two months there was only 180mm. “I was young in 1961 and there was always either too much rain or too little, the fields were fallow and we had no food,” remembers Dikura Devi Thapaliya in Terathum. “Only those who had springs and could irrigate their fields had harvests that year.”&nbsp; Read also: <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/banner/first-drought-then-downpour">First drought, then downpour</a>, Smita Magar Four years later, there was another drought that caused a famine, forcing families to forage for wild roots. In Iwa, the town council asked households that had extra grain to sell it to neighbours, but no one was willing. The villagers did not have food for the 10-day trek down to Dharan to collect government rations, so food was air dropped by the state.&nbsp; Even worse was the nationwide drought of 1972, when the British Royal Air Force helped Nepal with Hercules aircraft to drop grain by parachute in what it called Operation Khana Cascade. Some 52 tons were dropped on Taplejung and Terathum alone.&nbsp; This was the Panchayat era, and even the usually-understated government controlled news agency, RSS, filed a report from eastern Nepal about the terrible conditions: ‘The harvest of corn and buckwheat has failed in villages around Dhankuta. Rice harvests are one-third of normal. There is starvation in Terathum. Many have migrated to the Tarai or elsewhere, or are working as coolies along the Dharan-Dhankuta road.’ <div class="embed-block"><iframe title="The Rain in Dhankuta" aria-label="Interactive line chart" id="datawrapper-chart-gKSl5" src="https://datawrapper.dwcdn.net/gKSl5/2/" scrolling="no" frameborder="0" style="width: 0; min-width: 100% !important; border: none;" height="423" data-external="1"></iframe><script type="text/javascript">!function(){"use strict";window.addEventListener("message",(function(a){if(void 0!==a.data["datawrapper-height"]){var e=document.querySelectorAll("iframe");for(var t in a.data["datawrapper-height"])for(var r=0;r<e.length;r++)if(e[r].contentWindow===a.source){var i=a.data["datawrapper-height"][t]+"px";e[r].style.height=i}}}))}(); </script></div> The next serious drought was in 1982, with Terathum getting a record low of only 254mm of rain – only 38% of normal monsoon precipitation.&nbsp; The Tamor had never been so dry before that, nor has it since. Hydrological data acquired by Nepali Times show that in September 1982 river flow was only 15% of mean for that month. Ninety percent of the maize crop in the east was destroyed, paddy wilted before it could be transplanted. The rice terraces were barren.&nbsp; Nepal’s two neighbours donated grain so that villagers would not starve. More than 2,500 farmers from Terathum made the four-day trek down to Dhankuta to collect 100kg sacks of wheat from India, or maize from China. Even the desert kingdom of Saudi Arabia donated 5,000 tons of rice and 2,500 tons of wheat.&nbsp; Not much has changed in the villages of Terathum and along the banks of the Tamor since – except that there are fewer people. Farmers who remain still depend on timely and adequate rain to keep their soil watered.&nbsp; “If the gods send rain, we get to eat. Otherwise we starve,” Naramaya Tamang in Terathum puts it simply. Her farm grows enough food to feed the family for only half the year.&nbsp; Those who have property have sold it to <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/banner/unthinkable-in-the-current-climate">move to the plains</a>. The government has stopped food aid, citing new roads and letting market forces ensure supply. However, there are many like Naramaya who have fallen through the social safety net. The other thing that has changed in these mountains is that people are migrating not just to the plains, but overseas to the Gulf or Malaysia. The villages on both sides of the Tamor River are devoid of young men, and increasingly, young women. Every family has a member abroad. It is the money they send back that helps the elderly relatives survive.&nbsp;  <figure> <img src="https://publisher-publish.s3.eu-central-1.amazonaws.com/pb-nepalitimes/swp/asv65r/media/20240406020436_9619e4536523960ebe2edf86de43c389ba054b3dd32c5752e5bcc7d9fac9d83f.jpg" data-media-id="editor_15" data-image-id="20240406020436_9619e4536523960ebe2edf86de43c389ba054b3dd32c5752e5bcc7d9fac9d83f" data-rendition-name="original" width="640" height="713" loading="lazy" alt="Climate → crisis → drought → food → deficit → migration"> </figure>  Over the last 20 years, Panchthar saw the second highest number of permits to work overseas in proportion to the district’s population. Terathum ranks third on this metric and Dhankuta is sixth. The adjoining district to the west, Khotang, is number one.&nbsp; Dhanusha in the Tarai has the highest numbers of people migrating out, but most of those workers return. Here in Dhankuta, Terathum, Panchthar and Taplejung, when young people leave, most leave for good.&nbsp; The main result of the climate breakdown is the <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/opinion/borderlines/grain-drain">lack of water</a>. Deficient rain and springs going dry are the main reasons why farmers are migrating, explains the Chair of Ward 3 of Chaubise village, Madan Tumsa.&nbsp; He says: “These are climate migrants. The soil is too dry to farm, and there is nothing to eat. People are not leaving to earn more, up to 80% are leaving because they cannot grow food due to the lack of water.”&nbsp; Research for this three-part series was supported by the Barbara Foundation. This is the first of a three-part series in Nepali Times analysing meteorological, hydrological and demographic data from eastern Nepal, showing the impact of the climate crisis on rainfall, farming and outmigration. The second and third installments will appear on 12 and 26 April respectively.

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Climate crisis → drought → food deficit → migration

Nepal’s remote far western districts have always suffered from food insecurity, but this year saw a significant decline in rice harvest which is expected to increase outmigration and <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/here-now/the-karnali-s-hunger-emergency">malnutrition</a>.
The shortages were recorded in just the three months after this year’s harvests hit the market and are attributed to unfavourable rains, people moving away from farming, shortage of fertiliser and other agricultural inputs, low market price for local rice, and lack of irrigation.&nbsp;
This was revealed in the <a href="https://www.facebook.com/USAIDNepal/posts/pfbid0wWMzUk7nbDkqfmMwDNYSMbUfgpXeQEuzULdAXSYwWXiXrHiAMF6ZVAhh7uC9gNcwl">International Rice Conference</a> held by the Nepal government in partnership with Feed the Future and USAID in Kathmandu this week with the theme: 'Achieving self-sufficiency in rice for Nepal's sustainable economic growth'.
The conference highlighted investment in research and development, subsidised loans to farmers for fertiliser, machinery and raising import tariffs. But by far the greatest impact would be to increase the area under irrigation, especially in the more arid western mountains of Nepal which are chronically food-deficit.
Three-fourths of Nepalis depend on agriculture, which makes up a quarter of the GDP. About 20% of that comes from rice. Till 30 years ago, Nepal used to export rice, but the country’s population has doubled in that time, there is also a growth in numbers of people switching to rice in their diet, and a fall in production.
Although productivity has increased, the area of land under cultivation has gone down. Nepal imported rice worth Rs40 billion in 2020-21, up 64% from the previous year.
Productivity could be further increased if there was better irrigation, since 80% of farms depend on rain-fed agriculture. The climate crisis has made those rains more erratic.
Even if all of Nepal’s 30 million people ate rice, the country would theoretically need 6.5 million tonnes of rice per year, but Nepal imports 7.5 million tonnes. The spurt in rice import is also because of the demand from the burgeoning beer industry.
This time last year, industrial warehouses were full of rice. Now, most of them in Dhangadi and other market towns are empty. Karnali Province grows about 150 million kg of rice annually. However, production this year is down by 50%, says agro-businessman Om Prakash Agrawal.
As it stands, the shortage in supply has also meant that prices have increased. The price of short-grain rice has gone up from Rs42 per kg to Rs55, while the cost of long-grain rice has increased from Rs60 three months ago to Rs75.&nbsp;
Hari Shankar Thakur, owner of Thakur Agro Industries, says that the scarcity of rice in the market caused by the decrease in paddy production has exacerbated the supply shortage in the far western hill districts.&nbsp;
Read Also: <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/here-now/the-karnali-s-hunger-emergency">The Karnali’s hunger emergency</a>, Anita Bhetwal
“Current stocks indicate that unless the government intervenes, there will be a severe shortage of food in the Far West in another three months’ time,” adds Thakur. “But it seems like the government is unconcerned about how to meet the people’s demands for rice.”&nbsp;
The Nepal Food Corporation, which purchases paddy from Nepali suppliers every year to avoid food shortages in the country’s hill districts, began buying rice in November of this year as well.
Indeed, the Corporation unit in Dhangadi which last year set a target to purchase 4 million kg of paddy, aimed to buy 6 million kg this season at the government-allocated support price of Rs31.98 per kg. The market price of rice does not affect the support price set by the government.&nbsp;
The corporation established six purchase depots in the district to facilitate transactions. However, farmers stopped showing up to sell their rice in the depots in December because they prefer to sell their product at a higher price elsewhere than at the government-allocated price, corporation officials said.&nbsp;
So far, Dhangadi has bought only 1.87 million kg of paddy out of the targeted 6 million kg, says Angila Basnet, head of the Food Corporation in Dhangadi.&nbsp;
This means the paddy harvested will only produce 1 million kg of rice which will not even be enough to cover one week’s demand.
“It is impossible for our supply to meet the demand for rice in the far west,” says Basnet. “In fact, there is already a shortage of food in the mountains &nbsp;even though the paddy season is not over yet.”
Read Also: <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/banner/nearly-half-of-nepali-children-still-malnourished">Nearly half of Nepali children still malnourished</a>, Sonia Awale

Paddy production falls in west Nepal

Nepal’s poverty rate may have gone down, but hunger still stalks the land.&nbsp;
Here in the southern plains, paddy fields are parched due to a delayed monsoon, wells have gone dry and half-way through the rainy season only 40% of rice fields have been planted.&nbsp;
The eight districts of Madhes Province produce a quarter of Nepal’s rice, and the projected harvest shortfall this year has led to fears of inflation exacerbated by India’s ban on rice and wheat exports.
Covid, climate change and conflict have created a perfect storm of food insecurity. Record heat waves, droughts and storms have hit the northern hemisphere, and Russia exiting the UN-brokered grain export deal last week &nbsp;made the global fuel, food and fertiliser situation even more precarious.
Nepal’s carbon emission is negligible and the country is not involved in the Russo-Ukraine war, yet both crises have exacerbated food insecurity. And here in the Tarai, it is the most vulnerable families who are most affected.&nbsp;
Read also: <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/here-now/the-karnali-s-hunger-emergency">The Karnali’s hunger emergency</a>, Anita Bhetwal
“Who listens to us small people?” asks Nathuni Yadav in Dhanusa district near the Indian border, gesturing at yellowing seedlings on her cracked and sunbaked paddy patch that should be filled with water this time of year.&nbsp;
Better-off farmers have diesel pumps, but even these have gone dry because the water table has fallen on both sides of the border. It is not just the late monsoon and deficient rainfall that is to blame, over extraction of ground water and rampant quarrying and denudation of the Chure watershed are &nbsp;affecting the entire Nepal Tarai.
The northern areas of the district near the East-West Highway can still pump water, but farmers who depend on rain-fed agriculture have been badly hit.&nbsp;
Even border cities like Birganj with a population of 300,000 do not have water as hand pumps go dry, and there are reports of similar shortages in cities across the border in the Indian state of Bihar. The rain when it does fall, comes in brief torrents and not the usual longer light drizzles.
This year’s water crisis in the Tarai did not happen suddenly, there have been signs over previous years. Haphazard infrastructure, disturbance of the watershed and deficient rainfall reduced recharge of ground water, while over-extraction through deep drilling in Bihar and Nepal sucked up the remaining ground water.&nbsp;
Read also: <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/latest/nepal-needs-to-plan-for-plenty-and-scarcity-of-water">Nepal needs to plan for plenty and scarcity of water</a>, Nepali Times &nbsp;
When Ram Baran Yadav went on a state visit to India as president, he had warned Indian leaders including the leaders of Bihar and Uttar Pradesh state that the destruction of the Chure would affect the Indo-Gangetic plains in Nepal and India.&nbsp;
This was the first time that a Nepali leader had raised this issue at such a high level in India. But neither has the Nepal government stopped stripping the Chure, nor has India curbed deep drilling for water. The Chure is a gigantic sponge that soaks monsoon water into the ground, but the little rain that falls now runs off its denuded slopes and the pumps lift what water is remaining underground.&nbsp;
The climate crisis is a water crisis, and access to water used to be determined by who bore deep wells for water. But even those with pumps do not have water, and the worst hit are the poorest families like Nathuni Yadav.
Nearly 53% of Nepal’s population now lives in the Tarai, which is also the country’s grain basket. The water crisis will affect food supply, which in turn will increase the push factor for migration. Dhanusha is already the district with the highest rate of out-migration and water scarcity will feed the vicious cycle – lack of food forces people to migrate, and because they migrate there is no one to grow food.&nbsp;
Bishow Parajuli, who till recently was the World Food Programme (WFP) representative in India, says food insuecurity needs short-, medium-, and long-term interventions.
Read also: <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/here-now/nepal-sets-ambitious-target-for-food-sufficiency">Nepal sets ambitious target for food sufficiency</a>, Ramesh Kumar
He says, “We need emergency response, especially to reach food to the most vulnerable populations. In the medium term we have to control food price inflation due to the Ukraine crisis and the Indian ban on exports, and in the longer term Nepal has no option but to re-farm fallow land, expand irrigation and increase agriculture productivity.”
Prime Minister Pushpa Kamal Dahal, who addressed the World Food Summit in Rome this week said all the right things about meeting the UN’s Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) to eliminate hunger by 2030.
But at the rate Nepal is going, zero hunger looks unattainable. Even without this year’s crisis, the proportion of children with wasting remained stalled at 12%, with Madhes and Karnali Province showing an even higher proportion of undernourished children at 30%.
The proportion of stunted children has dropped from 57% twenty years ago to 30%, but it is till double the SDG target of 15%.
Read also: <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/news/the-pandemic-of-hunger">The pandemic of hunger</a>

Chandra Kishore

Grain drain

Raju Rawal gave birth to twin boys 18 months ago, but one of the babies died soon after being born. The reason was that the 23-year-old mother was doing household chores throughout her pregnancy and did not have adequate nutrition. The other son survived, but was seriously underweight and the hospital kept him under observation. Mother and baby were finally discharged with a few months’ supply of ready-to-use therapeutic food for the baby and fortified flour for herself. The baby now weighs 9kg, but the last packet of the fortified flour is finished and Rawal herself is undernourished. Read also: <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/multimedia/mothers-of-sarlahi">Mothers of Sarlahi</a>, Marty Logan  <figure> <img src="https://publisher-publish.s3.eu-central-1.amazonaws.com/pb-nepalitimes/swp/asv65r/media/20230707040756_bb11300aa04c96d2d9be301b7a1194d1ea6364b94ee2db2ffb5148f7654186b6.jpg" data-media-id="editor_1" data-image-id="20230707040756_bb11300aa04c96d2d9be301b7a1194d1ea6364b94ee2db2ffb5148f7654186b6" data-rendition-name="original" width="1920" height="1080" loading="lazy" alt="Karnali food insecurity NT"> </figure>  “We had just enough rice to last until this morning, and we will have to depend on our neighbours,” Raju’s husband Karna Bahadur says in a resigned voice. The Rawals are subsistence farmers who grow just enough food to last four months, and do not have regular income. This is the tragic reality behind the stereotype of the remote Karnali being a chronically food-deficit region of Nepal. Despite a reduction in Nepal’s national poverty rate and improvements in the national nutrition level, in these remote mountains hunger still stalks the land. Sangita Damai is a 20-year-old mother who waited in line at the local health post in Tila Rural Municipality with 50 other women to receive their monthly packet of state supplied fortified flour&nbsp; “The harvest is all gone, so our children depend on this flour,” says Damai, whose six-month-old daughter was born malnourished. Her husband is in India for half the year to support their family of eight. Read also: <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/multimedia/tara-pariyar-s-karnali">Tara Pariyar’s Karnali</a>, Anita Bhetwal  <figure> <img src="https://publisher-publish.s3.eu-central-1.amazonaws.com/pb-nepalitimes/swp/asv65r/media/20230707040756_f05aaef5799d21cc48c10458978c6161fb9b219a70cd09b5eb9aa657bdc01f32.jpg" data-media-id="editor_3" data-image-id="20230707040756_f05aaef5799d21cc48c10458978c6161fb9b219a70cd09b5eb9aa657bdc01f32" data-rendition-name="original" width="4640" height="3472" loading="lazy" alt="Karnali food insecurity NT"> </figure>  Dilmaya Sarki is also in the queue, having made the half-day trek to the health post along with other mothers holding stunted and wasted babies. “There is no food at home,” says the 25-year-old listlessly. The fortified flour is being provided by World Food Programme (WFP) since 1996, and the government distributes 3kg of fortified wheat flour per household each month for mothers and children between the ages of 6-23 months in Mugu, Jumla, Kalikot, Humla, and Dolpo districts of Karnali province. The WFP says the program benefits 29,000 pregnant women, breastfeeding mothers and infants in the region every year. And the government procured 575 metric tons of fortified flour for this year. “Fortified flour has helped a lot of households who lack adequate food, but it is just enough to feed the children,” explains Balika Rokaya at the health post in Jumla’s Hima Rural Municipality. Female Community Health Volunteer Pulti Khatri agrees that without the nutritive flour has helped a lot of impoverished families. “Mothers come with their children to the health post to get flour, and get health check-ups at the same time,” she says. Read Also:<a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/banner/this-is-how-to-upgrade-nepals-rural-health"> This is how to upgrade Nepal's rural health</a>, Sewa Bhattarai  <figure> <img src="https://publisher-publish.s3.eu-central-1.amazonaws.com/pb-nepalitimes/swp/asv65r/media/2023070705070_919242369e85a8b03eacab634bab980fe79a6927eaefb8c1fc93e52c25bbe131.jpg" data-media-id="editor_5" data-image-id="2023070705070_919242369e85a8b03eacab634bab980fe79a6927eaefb8c1fc93e52c25bbe131" data-rendition-name="original" width="4640" height="3472" loading="lazy" alt="Karnali food insecurity NT"> </figure>  Karnali is the most food deficit part of Nepal because of historical neglect of this remote region by successive governments in Kathmandu. Lately, it has been made worse because of droughts induced by the climate crisis. The province required 338,935 metric tons of food grains against availability of 319,818 metric tons. The shortfall had to be sent to the region by the state.&nbsp; The Nepal Demographic and Health Survey 2016 showed stunting in children under five in Karnali Province was 36%, higher than the national average of 25%.&nbsp; “These are just statistics, but you have to look at how hungry the children are to get the real picture,” says Man Bahadur Kunwar, provincial coordinator of the multi-sector nutrition plan till this year. “Our priority has been to provide enough food, we have not yet paid attention to what kind of food.”&nbsp; More than other parts of Nepal, Karnali families suffer from multidimensional poverty, which is measured in terms of access to healthcare, education, drinking water, cooking fuel, nutrition, and sanitation.&nbsp; Read also: <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/here-now/access-to-water-changes-the-face-of-rural-nepal">Access to water changes the face of rural Nepal</a>, Anita Bhetwal  <figure> <img src="https://publisher-publish.s3.eu-central-1.amazonaws.com/pb-nepalitimes/swp/asv65r/media/20230707040756_c00078333ae6fae3b0c4a5d15b55ce3f7e52b052a2c50a02686cac4c321f0720.jpg" data-media-id="editor_7" data-image-id="20230707040756_c00078333ae6fae3b0c4a5d15b55ce3f7e52b052a2c50a02686cac4c321f0720" data-rendition-name="original" width="860" height="706" loading="lazy" alt="Karnali food insecurity NT"> </figure>  But just distributing fortified flour year after year may not be enough to fight hunger in the Karnali. The province needs a plan to increase local food production.&nbsp; “There has been food scarcity here for decades, but no sustainable solutions,” says Mangal Rawal of the Karnali Academy of Health Sciences. &nbsp;“More than distributing food or money, people must have access to improved education, healthcare and sanitation, and be informed, self-reliant and independent earners.” Yet, the Karnali Province has no choice but to provide emergency food aid to families. It sets aside Rs10 million annually for the fortified flour distribution program.&nbsp; “The situation in Karnali cannot be turned around by distributing fortified flour forever,” says public health worker Madhusudan Kafle. “The problem is chronic malnutrition caused by poverty.”&nbsp; Yogandra Bahadur Shahi, vice-chair of the Karnali Province Planning Commission, insists that women and children need fortified flour and financial support for the time being.&nbsp; He adds, “But in the longer term, we have to improve connectivity, tourism, industry, hydropower, as well as apple and herb and farming and marketing to raise incomes.” &nbsp; Read also: <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/news/farm-to-fork">Farm to fork</a>

The Karnali’s hunger emergency

The European Union (EU) and South Asian countries have come together to devise strategies to cope with the impact of the Covid-19 pandemic, the Russian invasion of Ukraine and extreme weather conditions caused by the climate crisis on <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/news/nepal-s-glaring-food-gap">food availability</a>. Disruption on global food supply chains can lead to hunger, malnutrition and obesity in communities around the world. Alternatively, agriculture is energy intensive with a sizeable carbon footprint. Current food production, transport and processing methods are one of the largest contributors to global warming with 21-37% of greenhouse gas emissions attributed to food chains. The EU-South Asia meeting ‘Farm to Fork’ in New Delhi included officials from five South Asian countries including Nepal, India, Bhutan, Sri Lanka and Bangladesh held dialogue with the EU on soil health and organic production, &nbsp;sustainable use of pesticides and antimicrobials, and food loss and waste. “Promoting the shift towards healthy, sustainable diets has to be done through collaboration. The food system is everyone’s business,” said Atul Upadhyay of the Food Scientists and Technologists Association of Nepal, adding that cross-border cooperation in the region was the way forward to effectively address the problem. Koen Van Dyck of the Bilateral International Relations at the EU Commission agreed: “We have to work together, exchange information and build alliances: the need for global action is clear."  <figure> <img src="https://publisher-publish.s3.eu-central-1.amazonaws.com/pb-nepalitimes/swp/asv65r/media/20230409090440_2d3d44f14f2b9db11e283298fda926892cdd72444cbf309086981c6a966291af.jpg" data-media-id="editor_1" data-image-id="20230409090440_2d3d44f14f2b9db11e283298fda926892cdd72444cbf309086981c6a966291af" data-rendition-name="original" width="960" height="640" loading="lazy" alt="food security"> </figure>  <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/here-now/nepal-sets-ambitious-target-for-food-sufficiency">Nepal made</a> some dramatic strides in reducing childhood and maternal malnutrition in the last two decades. Stunting in particular decreased from 57% in the 1990s to 36% in 2016. But the progress has since stalled. Stunting needs to be well below 15% in 10 years to meet the global target -- it is still 36%. The <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/latest/the-pandemic-of-hunger">Covid-19 pandemic</a> and the climate change have added to the problem. While the former has meant reduced income to afford nutritious food, the latter has led to reduced productivity, if not crop failures due to unreliable precipitation patterns. Now, <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/here-now/ukraine-climate-and-nepal">the Ukraine crisis</a> has increased the cost of commodities , including fuel and food. Given the rise of new infectious diseases and volatile geopolitical tensions, the solution may lie in developing <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/banner/biodynamic-agripreneurs">sustainable food systems</a> which goes beyond the means of production and also addresses nutrition challenges such as undernutrition and hunger, say experts. 'These challenges persist while new and multiple forms of malnutrition rise. In particular, food-borne non-communicable diseases such as cancer, obesity, and cardiovascular conditions put pressure on people and health systems,' reads an EU statement. The food system also needs to take into account land degradation or food loss that ultimately affect how food is produced, processed, transported and consumed. Which is why, <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/opinion/we-are-what-we-eat">diversifying diets</a> can be a key driver in the change to sustainable food systems, says Jamie Morrison, senior policy advisor at GAIN (Global alliance for Improved Nutrition) Bangladesh. While Bhutanese officials stated the need of transforming subsistence farming to a commercial system where rural income is improved and increased, Sri Lanka on the other hand put an emphasis on organic farming. “The niche market of organic products should be developed not only for export, but also for the domestic market. Organic farming is happening on a small scale and we encourage those who want to do it," said Malathy Parasuraman of the Ministry of Agriculture in Sri Lanka. Parts of Nepal have carried out <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/multimedia/the-organic-uncle-of-chitwan">organic farming</a> with a varying degree of success. But most agree that the organic approach is profitable in the longer run, healthier and also sustainable, once it has reversed the damage caused by the rampant use of harmful chemical pesticides. Says Shahidur Rashid of IFPRI (International Food Policy Research Institute) in India: “We must not leave this to future generations: food systems are a complex concept and a much bigger challenge than the green revolution in the 1950s and 60s.”

Farm to fork

<figure><img width="1500" height="1191" src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/20221110151112/636d079f9c7e80680e0a5fcfjpeg.jpg" alt=""/><figcaption>Photo: MARTY LOGAN</figcaption></figure>The Covid-19 pandemic has affected the livelihoods of the most neglected communities in Nepal, with a direct impact on the food intake of family members, <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/editorial/pandemic-of-poverty/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">especially children</a>.
Household loss of income means mothers also have inadequate nutrition, which again affects their children. A recent report by the World Food Programme (WFP) states that Nepal had up to 1.84 million pregnant and lactating women who were <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/banner/nepals-epidemic-of-hunger/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">malnourished</a>. 
Babies are affected even before they are born when women lack adequate nutrition while pregnant. Newborns get mother’s milk lacking in nutrition,  leading to greater risk of dying before the age five. 
More than one-third of children under five face stunted growth, and with <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/here-now/lessons-not-learned-from-the-pandemic/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">prolonged school closure</a> many of the older children who rely on school lunches for a nutritious meal are also deprived of adequate nutrition. 
“To ensure food security, governments must clearly define the principles and framework to provide food support to those in need,” says Bishow Parajuli, the World Food Programme (WFP) Representative and Country Director in India. “It must be contextual and linked to the needs of the citizens and its food systems. Targeting food support to focus on at-risk groups is at the heart of any need-based safety net.” 
Neighbouring India has allocated an additional 5kg cereal free of cost to 813 million people under the Pradhan Mantri Garib Kalyan Anna Yojana. And although there are doubts about the food reaching the most vulnerable, it shows a bold attempt to address the food-pandemic nexus. Nepal has no such state-run program.
A study in the Front Public Health journal states that ‘despite some efforts in the 8 months since the first case was detected, the [Nepali] government's response so far has been insufficient’. 
Parajuli says that instituting a dynamic food support program that continually assesses the needs of communities most at risk from <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/banner/nearly-half-of-nepali-children-still-malnourished/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">malnutrition</a> and is led by local leaders will help reach marginalised and underserved individuals. 
“Such programs allow food support to be built into disaster and humanitarian responses and which also reduce the food insecurity impacts of Covid-19,” Parajuli explains.  
State intervention on <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/latest/1-in-5-nepal-families-lack-food/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">food security</a> must take into account reliable distribution that reaches the most vulnerable, but also deliver a balanced nutritious diet – especially for children. 
“Food aid must include a wide variety of food groups as well as specific supplementary nutritious food for children, pregnant and lactating women. And it is preferable if these are locally available foods and food preferences,” adds Parajuli. 
To begin sourcing more food locally, Nepal’s agriculture-based economy which employs roughly 66% of the labour force in Nepal, will be relying on this year’s monsoon season more than ever. Although the monsoon has unleashed floods and landslides, it has been on time and vigorous, raising hopes of <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/here-now/are-nepalis-really-eating-more-rice/" data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?q=https://www.nepalitimes.com/here-now/are-nepalis-really-eating-more-rice/&amp;source=gmail&amp;ust=1626759869540000&amp;usg=AFQjCNH5oMU-2S63uhx7ndTjXOqLzbt-cg">a good rice harvest</a>.
The India Meteorological Department  increased its 2021 monsoon forecast to ‘101 percent of the Long Period Average (LPA), meaning most parts of the country can expect to get normal to above normal rainfall’. In June, Nepal on average got up to 30%  more rain than normal. 
Faced with the prospect of widespread hunger due to loss of income during the pandemic, this is good news for food security. In the 2020-2021 fiscal year, India saw surplus production enabling the export of 19.8 million tonnes of rice and wheat. 
Elsewhere in the world, Covid-19 has exacerbated <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/latest/covid-19-affecting-food-security-in-nepal-wfp/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">food insecurity</a>, leaving roughly 155 million people acutely food insecure in 2020. On a global scale, the WFP estimates that the number of people living with acute hunger will increase from 130 million to 270 million in 2020-21. 
Children in developing countries facing a food crisis are most vulnerable to food insecurity. The 2021 Global Report of Food Crises (GRFC) report stated that last year, 15.8 million children under 5 years old were wasted and 75.2 million children under 5 years old were stunted in the 55 food-crisis countries. 
"For these children the situation is especially grave. More than one in three of all wasted children – 16 million – and just under one half of all stunted children – 75 million children – live in these 55 countries,” says UNICEF Executive Director Henrietta Fore. “The pandemic has deepened this crisis, disrupting diets, services and practices that protect children and their families from under-nutrition.” 
The report lists the main drivers of global acute food insecurity: conflict, <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/banner/the-real-cost-of-nepals-second-wave/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">economic shock including those resulting from Covid-19</a>, and weather extremes caused by climate change. These problems often amplify each other. 
For its part, Nepal is coming out of lockdown and economic activities have picked up. But inflation is high in urban areas because of transport bottlenecks, and a recent survey showed that a third of families had cut back on food items.
UNICEF surveys conducted in May 2020 to determine the impact of Covid-19 found that almost two-thirds of interviewed households <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/latest/half-of-nepalis-lost-jobs-in-past-month/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">lost a significant portion of their income</a> and roughly one-fourth of them had inadequate access to food. 
A more in-depth analysis in WFP’s April 2021 report revealed that 46% of families who were getting money from family members working abroad lost income along with 33% of labourers in agriculture and cash crop producers. 
Additionally, 25% of non-agriculture daily wage labourers reported having a loss of income as well as workers in other job sectors such as traders.

The pandemic of hunger

<img width="640" height="433" src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/20221110131124/636cee2e9c7e80680e09ae0fjpeg.jpg" alt=""/>Nepal’s population has not increased by that much more in the past year, and a favourable monsoon increased paddy harvests. Yet, Nepal’s import of rice went up in the last fiscal year. This has left statisticians at the Ministry of Agriculture scratching their heads. So far, they have no clues, only theories.  Nepal imported Rs39 billion worth of rice mainly from India between August 2020 and April 2021. This was 64% up from the same period the previous year, when only Rs23 billion was brought in. This would mean that Nepal spent nearly half the Rs7.8 billion it earned this fiscal year from all its export items put together just to <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/latest/nepal-agro-imports-at-all-time-high/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer" data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?q=https://www.nepalitimes.com/latest/nepal-agro-imports-at-all-time-high/&amp;source=gmail&amp;ust=1621831502584000&amp;usg=AFQjCNHpN2MB08D30d56P_xVHEsUh8xsxw">import rice and paddy</a>, representing a significant portion of Nepal’s trade imbalance.  Furthermore, the increase in imports coincide with an increase in Nepal’s rice harvests by 1.3% to over 5.62 million tonnes of paddy in the past year. How come imports increased when domestic production also rose? “We are flabbergasted,” admits Yogendra Karki, Secretary at the Ministry of Agriculture and Livestock Development. “We need to get to the bottom of this, and find out why imports are going up so steeply.” It could be that Nepalis are eating more rice because of the spread of the road network, and the country’s falling poverty rate. But there is no proof of that.  The Central Bureau of Statistics Household Survey of 2016-17 showed that every Nepali was consuming 112kg of rice per year. The previous year’s survey had put per capita annual consumption of rice at 131kg. If anything, going by these figures, individual rice consumption appears to be declining. <img width="640" height="556" src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/20221110131124/636cee319c7e80680e09ae10jpeg.jpg" alt="">Senior Statistician Ram Krishna Regmi at the Ministry of Agriculture does a back-of-the-envelope calculation to show that at 130kg per capita per year of rice consumption, Nepal’s 30 million people would need 3.9 million tonnes of rice. Regmi says that even if only 60% of the rice remains after dehusking and milling, Nepal would need 6.5 million tonnes of rice. But <a style="letter-spacing: 0.01em;" href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/editorial/nepals-rice-economy/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer" data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?q=https://www.nepalitimes.com/editorial/nepals-rice-economy/&amp;source=gmail&amp;ust=1621831502584000&amp;usg=AFQjCNG_jjJzzQOJ2OUf2nxVvtoIDROBEw">domestic production and imports</a> this fiscal year totalled more than 7.5 million tonnes.According to figures from the Department of Customs, Nepal imported 546,000 tonnes of paddy from August 2020 - April 2021, whereas in the same period in the previous fiscal year it was only 247,000 tonnes. Most of the rice was imported from India, although some rice also came from China, Thailand, Japan and the United States.Even though some of the imported rice is used for seed, this does not explain the huge increase in imports. Some agronomists say that with the ease of transport, many Nepalis in the high mountains are giving up <a href="https://archive.nepalitimes.com/page/pokhara-tries-to-save-its-famous-paddy" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer" data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?q=https://archive.nepalitimes.com/page/pokhara-tries-to-save-its-famous-paddy&amp;source=gmail&amp;ust=1621831502584000&amp;usg=AFQjCNFSYIpdnH_HIG0TK9ulLOcT3Ec2tQ">traditional rice varieties</a>, millet, buckwheat and other crops for rice. Remittances allow many families to eat more rice, and the upper middle class is moving to imported long-grained aromatic rice varieties.Karki says that even putting all this together does not explain the sharp increase in imports. He suspects the rice imports are mostly going not to feed Nepalis, but Nepal’s burgeoning beer industries.With new breweries opening up and a range of new Nepali and international brands being made here, the demand for rice adjunct has shot up. Beer production requires barley, but more and more plants are using rice, broken rice and rice hulls to start the brewing process.“It could be a combination of demand from the alcohol industry and from livestock breeding,” admits Subodh Gupta of the Rice, Pulses, Dal Producers Association of Nepal. “The rice produced in Nepal is not of good enough quality.”  <img width="640" height="321" src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/20221110131124/636cee349c7e80680e09ae11jpeg.jpg" alt="">Indeed, Customs Department figures show that there has been a 350% increase in the import of broken rice in the past final year: from 17,711 tonnes in 2019-2020 to 82,187 tonnes so far this fiscal year.Other reasons given for the increase of rice imports are: <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/banner/the-price-of-rice/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer" data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?q=https://www.nepalitimes.com/banner/the-price-of-rice/&amp;source=gmail&amp;ust=1621831502584000&amp;usg=AFQjCNH_J2KPsBe6S-30Iq--YXXf4DrDtQ">Indian rice is cheaper</a> than rice grown here, more imports coming in through official channels during the lockdown and pandemic, as well as mis-labelling other imports as rice at the border to facilitate money laundering by some importers.The bright spot in all this as far as government revenue is concerned is that Nepal’s exchequer earned Rs3.05 billions just from import tax on rice in the first nine months of this fiscal year.Productivity of other crops has also not gone up by much. This is because nearly 70% of Nepal’s agriculture is still rain-fed. The disappearance of <a href="http://archive.nepalitimes.com/article/nation/rice-self-sufficiency,3834" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer" data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?q=http://archive.nepalitimes.com/article/nation/rice-self-sufficiency,3834&amp;source=gmail&amp;ust=1621831502584000&amp;usg=AFQjCNHF8YepoU5c_oOZVDCCrM6Y6A-bEg">traditional rice varieties</a> suited to Nepal’s micro-climates has also impacted production.While harvest numbers may be promising, Nepal needs government priority in agriculture, improved yield though better seeds, irrigation, <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/techniques%20and%20mechanisation" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer" data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?q=https://www.nepalitimes.com/techniques%2520and%2520mechanisation&amp;source=gmail&amp;ust=1621831502584000&amp;usg=AFQjCNHISXwM_cczGYjzCgh4I3P4Hif_aA">techniques and mechanisation</a>. In the past 30 years, <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/banner/the-rise-of-rice-in-nepal/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer" data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?q=https://www.nepalitimes.com/banner/the-rise-of-rice-in-nepal/&amp;source=gmail&amp;ust=1621831502584000&amp;usg=AFQjCNFYRhkHfrX4dx6pKgO07xDzuRfK5A">productivity has not increased that much</a>: paddy yield only went up from 2.4 tonnes per hectare in 1990 to only 3.8 tonnes today.Statistician Regmi at the Ministry of Agriculture says there may also be a need to revisit Nepal’s paddy harvest figures, flaws in the data collection could be making total production figures inaccurate. He says, “This unnatural increase in imports leads us to think that maybe our domestic production figures are an over-estimation.”

Are Nepalis really eating more rice?

<img width="640" height="433" src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/20221109111148/636b861f9c7e80680e067832jpeg.jpg" alt=""/>Nepal’s population has not increased by that much more in the past year, and a favourable monsoon increased paddy harvests. Yet, Nepal’s import of rice went up in the last fiscal year. This has left statisticians at the Ministry of Agriculture scratching their heads. So far, they have no clues, only theories.  Nepal imported Rs39 billion worth of rice mainly from India between August 2020 and April 2021. This was 64% up from the same period the previous year, when only Rs23 billion was brought in. This would mean that Nepal spent nearly half the Rs7.8 billion it earned this fiscal year from all its export items put together just to <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/latest/nepal-agro-imports-at-all-time-high/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer" data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?q=https://www.nepalitimes.com/latest/nepal-agro-imports-at-all-time-high/&amp;source=gmail&amp;ust=1621831502584000&amp;usg=AFQjCNHpN2MB08D30d56P_xVHEsUh8xsxw">import rice and paddy</a>, representing a significant portion of Nepal’s trade imbalance.  Furthermore, the increase in imports coincide with an increase in Nepal’s rice harvests by 1.3% to over 5.62 million tonnes of paddy in the past year. How come imports increased when domestic production also rose? “We are flabbergasted,” admits Yogendra Karki, Secretary at the Ministry of Agriculture and Livestock Development. “We need to get to the bottom of this, and find out why imports are going up so steeply.” It could be that Nepalis are eating more rice because of the spread of the road network, and the country’s falling poverty rate. But there is no proof of that.  The Central Bureau of Statistics Household Survey of 2016-17 showed that every Nepali was consuming 112kg of rice per year. The previous year’s survey had put per capita annual consumption of rice at 131kg. If anything, going by these figures, individual rice consumption appears to be declining. <img width="640" height="556" src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/20221109111148/636b86229c7e80680e067833jpeg.jpg" alt="">Senior Statistician Ram Krishna Regmi at the Ministry of Agriculture does a back-of-the-envelope calculation to show that at 130kg per capita per year of rice consumption, Nepal’s 30 million people would need 3.9 million tonnes of rice. Regmi says that even if only 60% of the rice remains after dehusking and milling, Nepal would need 6.5 million tonnes of rice. But <a style="letter-spacing: 0.01em;" href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/editorial/nepals-rice-economy/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer" data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?q=https://www.nepalitimes.com/editorial/nepals-rice-economy/&amp;source=gmail&amp;ust=1621831502584000&amp;usg=AFQjCNG_jjJzzQOJ2OUf2nxVvtoIDROBEw">domestic production and imports</a> this fiscal year totalled more than 7.5 million tonnes.According to figures from the Department of Customs, Nepal imported 546,000 tonnes of paddy from August 2020 - April 2021, whereas in the same period in the previous fiscal year it was only 247,000 tonnes. Most of the rice was imported from India, although some rice also came from China, Thailand, Japan and the United States.Even though some of the imported rice is used for seed, this does not explain the huge increase in imports. Some agronomists say that with the ease of transport, many Nepalis in the high mountains are giving up <a href="https://archive.nepalitimes.com/page/pokhara-tries-to-save-its-famous-paddy" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer" data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?q=https://archive.nepalitimes.com/page/pokhara-tries-to-save-its-famous-paddy&amp;source=gmail&amp;ust=1621831502584000&amp;usg=AFQjCNFSYIpdnH_HIG0TK9ulLOcT3Ec2tQ">traditional rice varieties</a>, millet, buckwheat and other crops for rice. Remittances allow many families to eat more rice, and the upper middle class is moving to imported long-grained aromatic rice varieties.Karki says that even putting all this together does not explain the sharp increase in imports. He suspects the rice imports are mostly going not to feed Nepalis, but Nepal’s burgeoning beer industries.With new breweries opening up and a range of new Nepali and international brands being made here, the demand for rice adjunct has shot up. Beer production requires barley, but more and more plants are using rice, broken rice and rice hulls to start the brewing process.“It could be a combination of demand from the alcohol industry and from livestock breeding,” admits Subodh Gupta of the Rice, Pulses, Dal Producers Association of Nepal. “The rice produced in Nepal is not of good enough quality.”  <img width="640" height="321" src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/20221109111148/636b86259c7e80680e067834jpeg.jpg" alt="">Indeed, Customs Department figures show that there has been a 350% increase in the import of broken rice in the past final year: from 17,711 tonnes in 2019-2020 to 82,187 tonnes so far this fiscal year.Other reasons given for the increase of rice imports are: <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/banner/the-price-of-rice/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer" data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?q=https://www.nepalitimes.com/banner/the-price-of-rice/&amp;source=gmail&amp;ust=1621831502584000&amp;usg=AFQjCNH_J2KPsBe6S-30Iq--YXXf4DrDtQ">Indian rice is cheaper</a> than rice grown here, more imports coming in through official channels during the lockdown and pandemic, as well as mis-labelling other imports as rice at the border to facilitate money laundering by some importers.The bright spot in all this as far as government revenue is concerned is that Nepal’s exchequer earned Rs3.05 billions just from import tax on rice in the first nine months of this fiscal year.Productivity of other crops has also not gone up by much. This is because nearly 70% of Nepal’s agriculture is still rain-fed. The disappearance of <a href="http://archive.nepalitimes.com/article/nation/rice-self-sufficiency,3834" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer" data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?q=http://archive.nepalitimes.com/article/nation/rice-self-sufficiency,3834&amp;source=gmail&amp;ust=1621831502584000&amp;usg=AFQjCNHF8YepoU5c_oOZVDCCrM6Y6A-bEg">traditional rice varieties</a> suited to Nepal’s micro-climates has also impacted production.While harvest numbers may be promising, Nepal needs government priority in agriculture, improved yield though better seeds, irrigation, <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/techniques%20and%20mechanisation" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer" data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?q=https://www.nepalitimes.com/techniques%2520and%2520mechanisation&amp;source=gmail&amp;ust=1621831502584000&amp;usg=AFQjCNHISXwM_cczGYjzCgh4I3P4Hif_aA">techniques and mechanisation</a>. In the past 30 years, <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/banner/the-rise-of-rice-in-nepal/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer" data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?q=https://www.nepalitimes.com/banner/the-rise-of-rice-in-nepal/&amp;source=gmail&amp;ust=1621831502584000&amp;usg=AFQjCNFYRhkHfrX4dx6pKgO07xDzuRfK5A">productivity has not increased that much</a>: paddy yield only went up from 2.4 tonnes per hectare in 1990 to only 3.8 tonnes today.Statistician Regmi at the Ministry of Agriculture says there may also be a need to revisit Nepal’s paddy harvest figures, flaws in the data collection could be making total production figures inaccurate. He says, “This unnatural increase in imports leads us to think that maybe our domestic production figures are an over-estimation.”

<figure><img width="2000" height="1333" src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/20221110121148/636ce4f59c7e80680e0966dcjpeg.jpg" alt=""/><figcaption>Photo: WFP NEPAL</figcaption></figure>Nepalis continue to suffer from pandemic-induced food insecurity even as Nepal sees the <a style="font-size: 15px; letter-spacing: 0.01em;" href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/latest/first-signs-of-the-second-wave/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">first signs of the second wave of Covid-19.</a><a style="font-size: 15px; letter-spacing: 0.01em;" href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/latest/first-signs-of-the-second-wave/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer"> </a>A new report released last week shows that 16.8% of households have inadequate food consumption, and nearly 2.7% had insufficient food stock to meet their needs, 43% of children between 6-23 months did not meet the minimum recommended dietary needs.The survey was conducted in December 2020 by the <a href="https://www.wfp.org" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">UN World Food Programme</a> (UN-WFP) and the Ministry of Agriculture and Livestock Development, with support from the Australian government. It is the third in a series of nationwide surveys to assess the impact of Covid-19 on household food security in Nepal. The first two rounds were <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/latest/covid-19-affecting-food-security-in-nepal-wfp/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">conducted in April</a>, and <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/latest/1-in-5-nepal-families-lack-food/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">August 2020</a>.The survey covered 4,416 households from all seven provinces, and was collected through live telephone interviews.The highest prevalence of food insecurity, as measured by poor nutrition, was found in Karnali Province, accounting for 4.7% of households, followed by Province 2 (3.8%), Gandaki (2.7%) and Sudurpaschim (2.5%). <img width="1508" height="1086" src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/20221110121148/636ce4f89c7e80680e0966ddjpeg.jpg" alt="">Families have adopted negative livelihood coping strategies to address food shortages such as borrowing money, harvesting immature crops, selling livestock, household assets, or even house and property.The good news is that the food security situation has been gradually improving, with a smaller proportion of households consuming inadequate diets in December 2020 compared to August and April 2020. More than 3 out of 4 respondents reported having food stocks, of which nearly 50% had more than one month's worth of food stock.<a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/latest/pandemic-offers-chance-to-revive-farming/">Pandemic offers chance to revive farming</a>, Krishna Paudel“The findings from the survey indicate gradual improvements in terms of the impact of the Covid-19 crisis on food security and livelihoods. Yet, the aggravated conditions persist and continue to affect Nepali households,” states the report.“The impact of the Covid-19 crisis on job loss and income reduction remains notable and can further put pressure on income generation and livelihoods. Such prolonged exposure to adversary conditions, together with the upcoming lean season, can, in turn, lead to further risk of food insecurity.”Easing of restrictions and opening of economic activities, as well as recently harvested summer crops and <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/latest/nepals-out-of-school-children-get-food-at-home/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">assistance from various government and aid agencies</a>,  are likely the reasons for the improvement in food security. <img width="1228" height="724" src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/20221110121148/636ce4fb9c7e80680e0966dejpeg.jpg" alt=""><img width="1614" height="1032" src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/20221110121148/636ce4fe9c7e80680e0966dfjpeg.jpg" alt="">However, analysis of the survey data shows that there is a deepening of food insecurity in areas that are chronically more vulnerable like western Nepal. In fact, more households remain food insecure during the pandemic than five years ago. In December 2020, 17% of households had inadequate food consumption, but in December 2016 the figure was 15%. In the survey, households with low education levels, a chronically ill member, female-headed households, and households living in rural areas were found to be more food insecure. Similarly, loss of income was the largest among large and medium traders (48%), remittance recipient families (46%), followed by daily wage labourers in agriculture and cash crop producers (33%). A total of 25% of non-agriculture daily wage labourers reported having a loss of income source followed by 11.6% agriculture-related daily wage labourer. Read also: <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/banner/the-rise-of-rice-in-nepal/">The rise of rice in Nepal</a>, Krishna Dev Joshi and Santosh Upadhaya

Quarter of Nepalis still hungry during pandemic

<figure><img src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/20221109181140/636be64c9c7e80680e087799jpeg.jpg" alt="" width="1500" height="922"/><figcaption></figcaption></figure>The UK government has contributed $5.75 million to help Nepal’s most vulnerable 160,000 families to cope with the <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/latest/covid-19-impact-on-food-and-school-in-nepali-children/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">impact of the pandemic</a> in the country’s remote and under-served districts.The contribution from the British Foreign, Commonwealth &amp; Development Office (FCDO), will allow WFP to support 65,000 people with cash-based assistance in Sarlahi, Rautahat, Kalikot, Dailekh and Bajura districts. It will also provide 73,000 vulnerable young mothers and their children in all eight Province 2 districts with nutritious food and counselling.Meanwhile, more than 19,000 people will have jobs working on <a href="https://archive.nepalitimes.com/article/nation/Dolakha-rebuilding-bridges-after-quake,3702" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">trails and bridge improvements</a> in Gorkha, Dhading and Rasuwa districts that were hit hard by 2015 earthquake. Community-based projects will provide employment, and UKAid says earnings will help provide a much needed boost to the local economy.“Over the very long relationship between the people of Nepal and the British public, the UK has provided help in times of crisis. The Covid-19 crisis is no exception,” says Lisa Honan, Development Director at the British Embassy Kathmandu. “I am proud that we are providing UKaid to help some of the poor and vulnerable people of Nepal, particularly mothers and children, who have been especially hard hit.”The pandemic has destroyed work and livelihood opportunities for many households, particularly in rural Nepal. Hundreds of thousands of <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/here-now/workers-return-to-jobless-nepal/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">migrant workers have returned home from India</a> and the Gulf. Others have lost their small businesses or daily wage jobs.According to the second household survey by Ministry of Agriculture and WFP Nepal, over 20% of households in Nepal are severely <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/latest/1-in-5-nepal-families-lack-food/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">food insecure</a>, meaning they struggle to buy or produce enough food to live a healthy life, while 43% of children between 6-23 months do not have enough variety in their diet.Sudurpaschim, Karnali and Province 2 are the most <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/latest/nepalis-eating-less-due-to-lockdown-hardships/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">food insecure</a> with 23.8%, 23.3% and 22.1% of households consuming inadequate diet. Similarly, 11% of households reported job loss and 31.2% a reduction in income (highest in province 1 at 40.5% and 38.8% and 38.3% in Sudurpaschim and Province 2).Families with disabled, elderly, children, Covid-19 patients or with pre-existing medical conditions, as well as pregnant women and breast-feeding mothers, have been most severely affected.WFP will provide these households with unconditional cash support so that they don’t have to resort to eating fewer and smaller meals, child labour or <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/latest/child-marriages-up-during-nepal-lockdown/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">child marriage</a>, undermining Nepal’s dramatic progress in <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/banner/children-are-collateral-damage-in-nepal-lockdown/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">public health</a> and education.“We are thankful for this timely commitment from the United Kingdom when the most vulnerable and food-insecure families in Nepal are facing an increase in food prices, decrease in income and large-scale unemployment,” says Pippa Bradford, WFP Nepal Country Director.The latest contribution from the UK Government follows aid over $4.4 million from 2017-2021 to the Emergency Preparedness and Response Project to help WFP build logistic bases across the country.

food-insecurity

Climate crisis → drought → food deficit → migration

Paddy production falls in west Nepal

Grain drain

The Karnali’s hunger emergency

Farm to fork

The pandemic of hunger

Are Nepalis really eating more rice?

Are Nepalis really eating more rice?

Quarter of Nepalis still hungry during pandemic

UK aid for Nepal’s Covid-affected