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Nepal lost its capacity for self-sufficiency in food since the year 2005. This is a reality which is only getting worse year after year, thereby leading to a massive food crisis and famine situation, especially in the mid and far-western districts. Inaccessible and prone to winter droughts, these regions in the country now display hunger indicators on par with some troubled areas of Africa. A recent government data has shown that nearly 300,000 people of Kalikot, Humla, Mugu, Dolpa, Bajura, Achham, Dailekh, Darchula, Baitadi, Dadeldhura, Rukum and Jajarkot districts are faced with severe food shortage.



This also means that the size of the population facing food deficit has tripled in comparison to previous years. The country at present faces a food deficit of nearly 316,000 metric tons, compared to the deficit of 132,000 metric tons last year. Overall progress towards the hunger-related Millennium Development Goals is unconvincing. The proportion of the population considered to be undernourished was last reported in a 2008/09 assessment by the Food and Agriculture Organization to be 41 percent, against the 2015 target of 25 percent. UNICEF reports that 39 percent of children under the age of five are underweight in the country, with much to be done to reach the goal of 29 percent.



Unfortunately, governments have done very little to address the food crisis the country is facing since a long time. In a bid to save the poor from starvation, the Supreme Court has now stepped in. It has directed the government to “initiate all efforts” to overcome food deficit in the country “even during adverse situations.”



Rightly, the apex court has said that right to food is a fundamental right of every citizen and that it is the “constitutional duty” of every state to feed the hungry. It has also directed the government to take “adequate precautionary measures” to solve possible food deficit problems in the country. We hail the decision of the highest court and request that the court’s order is heeded to at once. The government must give this matter a top priority and pool enough funds at Nepal Food Corporation to distribute food grains even if it has to, by importing, mainly from India. Immediate help must be sought from donor agencies eager to support national programs aimed at fighting poverty and hunger.



All efforts must be directed to sending food to the famine-hit regions at once. But as a long-term solution, the state must address the underlying risks – climatic and economic – which threatens the livelihood of the poor. Subsidy and training support, investment in transport and communications infrastructure and increase in agricultural spending are vital to fight food crisis in the country. The sooner the state initiates larger nationwide action plans, more precious lives would be saved.

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