'Crop output down 30 to 70 pc'

KATHMANDU, April 6: Crops production have fallen between 30 and 70 per cent in the hills and mountain districts in mid and farwestern Nepal due to long drought this winter, the World Food Program said.



Issuing an ‘Emergency Alert’, a food situation bulletin, the WFP Nepal said crop losses caused by protracted winter drought is going to push about two million people toward hunger. [break]



“The hill and mountain districts are particularly affected with the Far and Mid-Western regions experiencing worst drought conditions,” states the bulletin.



The harvesting of the main winter crop, wheat, has started from mid-March in the Tarai and in some lower belts of the hill districts.



Food crisis looms in the hill and mountain districts such as Bajhang, Bajura, Dailekh, Rolpa, Humla, Mugu, Kalikot, Jumla, Dolpa, Jajarkot and Rukum.



The WFP’s Food and Security Monitoring and Analysis System indicates that crop losses will be more than 70 percent in some areas of Bajhang, Baitadi, Achham and Rolpa districts.



Similarly crop production could decline by 50 percent to 70 percent in many areas in hill and mountain districts in the Far-Western and Mid -western regions as well as in northern areas of Rasuwa and Kavre districts.



“Most other areas in the hills and mountains are expected to see crop losses between 30 to 50 percent,” the bulletin said. However, production in most Tarai districts is expected to be normal.



The WFP’s team had interviewed 725 farmers in nine mountain districts, 12 hill districts and six Tarai districts. Of the total interviewees, 70 percent expect poor to very poor crop production this year.



“The household survey confirms that the most worrying scenario is developing in the hill and mountain areas,” added the bulletin.



The WFP also showed worrying picture about the household stocks in the districts surveyed. An average household food stocks during the past three months (January - March) were 20 percent less as compared to same period last year.



The survey showed that the severity of food insecurity will continue to worsen until the maize harvest in September and August.



The report found that one in three poor rural households were found to have sold household assets this year compared to one in five households in the first quarter of last year. “The number of households selling agriculture assets increased to 23 percent from 17 percent last year in 2008,” said the report.

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