Food insecurity worsens in Nepal: Report

The United Nations World Food Programme (WFP) and the UN Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) have revealed that the situation of food insecurity has worsened in Nepal in recent times.

A joint report released this week by the FAO/WFP on food relief and agriculture states, a series of natural disasters in 2006 and 2007 have severely impacted on crop production in Nepal, placing a significant number of people at risk of food insecurity.

The report states that a combination of prolonged drought, hailstorms, and flooding in areas traditionally most agriculturally productive have resulted in an estimated 225,000-metric-ton food grain shortage for 2006/2007, compared to a food deficit of only 23,000 tons last year. An estimated 42 out of 75 districts are reported to be food deficient.

The report is based upon the findings of a joint FAO/WFP crop and food supply assessment mission conducted in March and April of 2007.

The WFP Representative in Nepal, Richard Ragan has promised help to address these concerns as the situation is particularly troubling during the highly sensitive post-conflict period.

"The WFP will immediately address these concerns by targeting 1.2 million people through a new US$49 million Peace and Recovery Programme and urge donors to support our effort," Ragan said.

According to a press statement issued by the WFP Nepal office, Nepal is a chronically food insecure, food deficit country, prone to natural disasters that can have serious consequences to agricultural production at both the national and local level.

The report has expressed serious concern over the estimated national undernourishment rate of 42 percent, with undernourishment rates in hill and mountain areas as high as 50 percent. Stunting rates in children are estimated to be as high as 60 percent in the Mid- and Far-Western Regions, and acute malnutrition rates of children at nearly 18 percent in the Terai.

"This is a really critical time," said Henri Josserand, Chief of the FAO Global Information and Early Warning System.

“The process of national reconciliation can only make headway if the whole country shares in improved access to food and markets, lower rates of malnutrition, and a determined risk management strategy for food security," Josserand added.

The UN report warns that continued high levels of food insecurity could destabilize the peace process, and recommends that immediate efforts be put in place to improve household food security and livelihoods.