Food subsidy in Karnali

A government panel to study a long-term solution to the Karnali region´s food dependency and medium and short-term measures to ensure reliable food supply has submitted its report. On face value, the key recommendation of the panel sounds outrageous: It has proposed ´phasing out food transport subsidy in five years´. Part of the problem with this recommendation is in its wording. It sounds like a warning bell to people of the food deficient region-- take care of yourselves in the next five years or else the state is going to abandon you altogether. But that´s actually not the spirit of the recommendation, nor would that have been morally defensible.



What the report proposes is development of local crops, among other things, to make the region self-sufficient in the next five years before the subsidy is completely scrapped. If the goal to make the region self-reliant in food production is realistic, there is no need to mention anything about lifting the subsidy since food produced in the region will obviously be cheaper than food transported in by road or by air. And the subsidy regime will die a natural death once the region grows enough food to feed its populace.



But we would doubt the realism of any plan to make the Karnali region self-reliant in food in just five years. The terrain is difficult, the land is not uniformly fertile, and people lack both the skills and experience for farming. Agriculture growth, however, is not the only option for ending the subsidy. People need subsidy because they can´t afford to buy the food. There are many other areas in Nepal, mainly in the northern reaches, that do not produce enough food, yet these areas are not as chronically dependent on state-subsidized food as Karnali. The main issue here is local purchasing power. If the people´s non-farm income is relatively good, they can afford to buy food transported in from other regions. Karnali´s problem is that it grows only a portion of what it needs and its people are too poor to buy food at market price.



Herein lies the rationale for developing tourism in the Karnali region, which is gifted with stunning natural beauty. Nepal´s largest and arguably most scenic lake, Rara, lies in the region, which also boasts of the Khaptad National Park and the arduous but rewarding trekking route to the sacred Manasarovar lake on the other side of the border. But the Karnali hasn´t been able to exploit even a fraction of its tourism potential. Our energy and resources should be invested in that direction and it will automatically take care of the region´s chronic food dependency.

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