An estimates by officials the Ministry of Agriculture Development (MoAD) shows that out of the total 9.45 million tons of production of cereal grains - paddy, maize, wheat, millet, barley and buckwheat- 6.03 million tons will be available for 27 million people.[break] The MoAD has put per capita food grain consumption at 190 kg.
“We have reckoned that 886,000 tons will become a surplus this year given the annual requirement of around 5.15 million tons for existing population,” said Hari Dahal, spokesperson of the MoAD. Last year total balance of food grains- difference between available stocks and requirement- was estimated at 443,000 tons with total production of cereal food grain reaching 8.61 million tons.
This year´s surplus is the highest ever with record high cereal production leading to net edible production to new high of 6.03 million tons after deducting post harvest loss, wastage, use for animal feeding and seeds purposes from the total gross production.
Mountain and Hill region that faced 13,000 tons and 50, 153 tons of food deficits last year have reported a surplus of 15,774 tons and 92,900 tons respectively this year.
“Though we found food surplus in hill and mountain region for the first time in the history, we can´t guarantee that such positive move will be sustained for coming years as well given the limited access to agriculture inputs and unpredictable monsoon,” said Dahal.
The number of districts graduating to food surplus position this year are Panchthar, Udaypur, Sindhuli, Kavre and Makawanpur. The number of districts with food surplus has increased to 27 from 33 last year.
The data compiled by the MoDA shows that Nepal faced 13 years of food deficit during the last 23 years with the year 2009/10 recording the highest deficit of 330,000 tons.
However, officials said increasing surplus merely can´t guarantee the availability of food to every households given the weak distribution network and food habit in remote areas.
“Overall food surplus doesn´t mean that there won´t be scarcity of food across the country as our food distribution network is very weak and habit to preferring rice is still seen in even remote areas,” said Dahal.
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