Food deficit

It is alarming to note that the size of the country’s population facing shortage of food has tripled to 1.6 million this year from approximately 500,000 last year. Ministry of Agriculture and Cooperatives data shows that this year food shortage will go up to 316,000 metric tons from 132,000 metric tons last year. Rice production, the staple food of Nepalis, depleted by 500,000 tons last year. A field study conducted by the Ministry of Commerce and Supplies placed Humla, Mugu and Bajura districts in the severely affected category while Kalikot, Achham, Jajarkot and Dailekh districts have been listed as moderately affected.



While it is true that late monsoon and drought, something over which we have no control at all, played a big part in decreasing food productivity last year, we cannot deny that there are many other factors that are retarding our production capability. First of all, it is time that we stopped relying too much on Mother Nature. Though nothing can replace favorable climatic conditions, we can to some extent negate the influence of a bad monsoon if we invest resources in developing irrigation facilities. Sadly, even to this day, most places in Nepal are deprived of such vital infrastructure. Moreover, our farmers continue to use seeds that yield minimal harvest when most countries around the world have moved on to hybrid seeds. There is also the problem of storage, which discourages farmers from exploiting their fields to the maximum. Of course, absence of road connectivity is another major factor that also dampens the spirit of our farmers. If our villages are well-connected by roads, farmers can sell whatever surplus they produce and use the money to purchase food to see them through difficult years such as the one that is staring at us.



While we thank China for pledging support worth 3 million rupees each to 10 districts of the country facing shortage of food, we must not shy away from accepting that we are in this position simply because we have not been able to give attention to areas that otherwise should have been our priority. As a nation, we are so engrossed in politics that other crucial areas simply take a backseat only to surface and grab attention when it is almost at the point of no return. The sooner we come out of this never-ending cycle of political transition, the faster we can focus our attention on providing basic things to the people such as roads, power, water, etc. Meanwhile, we request the government to immediately take appropriate actions to prevent the people in the affected districts from starving to death. That is the least that it can do.

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