Think food long-term

Floods and drought are already causing havoc in the country, with reports of food deficit and a rise in the number of displaced people flowing into the media from all quarters. On Sunday, the swollen [break] Thakuri rivulet swept away 32 houses in Falkland, a settlement area of Dharan, leaving around 150 people shelter-less.



The Saptakoshi and Patanali Rivers have started eroding hefty portions of land, creating panic in Itahari. While the Saptakoshi has started eroding land between two spurs, the Patanali is said to be causing erosion near the main canal of the Sunsari-Morang Irrigation Project. The authorities have said that if erosion continues, there could be massive damage including a possibility of the breakdown of the bridge that will affect the project’s main canal.



Similarly, continuous rainfall has also put 50 households in Khanar village in Sunsari district at great risk of being swept away completely. Dozens of families have been displaced and hundreds of bigha of arable land eroded in Jhapa district. Dangibari VDC in the same district is said to be the worst affected, with 15 families displaced from wards two and three. Likewise, five families in Lakhanpur VDC-5 were displaced by the Ratuwa while another 30 households are under inundation and hundreds of families in Surunga VDC-4 are under threat after a breakaway stream entered the village.



Each year, heavy loss of life and property is incurred due to floods. At the same time, food production is declining annually and severe food crisis grips remote corners of the country. The government has said, for instance, that average paddy cultivation in the Tarai is now only around 40 percent of the total acreage due to an erratic monsoon.



Planting in the eastern region has seen just 25 percent, the Ministry of Agriculture and Cooperatives stated Sunday. The food deficit this year is estimated to be 316,465 tons of grain, more than double last year’s figure, according to ministry figures. As the country continues to reel under the vagaries of nature, government action in terms of relief and resettlement has been very slow to move into gear.



The government must send relief to the flood and drought-hit areas as immediate succor and at the same time seriously mull the formulation of long-term strategy to deal with such recurrent crises. Concerned state agencies must take precautionary measures to evacuate vulnerable populations during the monsoon season. At the same time, it is high time the authorities realized that stop-gap arrangements to deal with food crisis have done the country no good.



As long-term policy, it would be better if the government looked at ways to encourage local food production and even go to the extent of changing the food habits of the people.

Related story

Eating junk food is bad for health!