NFC had earlier announced a tender for supply of the food stuff, and for this they had chosen one firm. But the firm has been unable to arrange for the food stuff. [break]
“The firm said that it was unable to supply the food and because of that we are unable to address the food needs,” said Bhagwan Pant, chief officer at NFC regional office.
“The decline in production in the Tarai over a span of one to two years is also affecting the supply of food grain,” NFC officials said. NFC is facing a problem supplying grain due to the tendency amongst businessmen to hoard grain and sell later at higher prices.
NFC collects food grain from high production areas and sells to areas of low output. NFC´s office in Nepalgunj is currently trying to arrange for 36,000 quintals of grain to supply hunger-stricken regions.
There is also a great likelihood of the food crisis aggravating in the remote areas as NFC is unable to get the required kind of rice to sell in those areas. The NFC regional office told Republica that only 22,300 quintals of food stuff, which was provided a year ago by the Japanese government, is left as stock with the corporation as it was unable to buy grain at local level.
Officials at NFC are uncertain where grain will come from after the stock runs out. The remaining stock is expected to meet requirements for only four to five months.
Amid all this, ordinary people are also worried about the current unavailability of fertilizers, which is likely to cause more difficulties in producing grain and invite a food scarcity next year.
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