40 districts in Nepal facing food deficit
Useful Links
» A new way to read online, exact replica of your daily and magazine
» For all you tweety fans out there!
» Allows you to find only those news from any date you choose!
» Search any news/ articles by author/ category/ date/ keyword
KATHMANDU, APR 01 - Experts have said that food security is a long-term phenomenon that needs to be addressed with an integrated approach.
Speaking at a national workshop organised by Practical Action, Nepal on Wednesday, speakers said that agriculture played a vital role in securing food for the people and underscored the need to increase production to meet demand.
Nepal occupies the 16th position among 31 countries that are reeling from a food deficit with 40 districts facing a food shortage this year.
Biju Kumar Shrestha, director of the Agriculture, Forestry and Biodiversity Division at the National Planning Commission (NPC), in a presentation entitled "Food Security Agenda in National Policy", said that food insecurity was growing in Nepal as well as in the world despite improvements in technology in food production and processing. He added that rising prices was aggravating the food crisis. "On the other hand, natural calamities such as winter droughts and floods have had a severe impact on food security in the country," he said.
He added that the NPC, which was responsible for preparing periodic development plans, had included food security issues in its plans.
"With its 'approach paper', the National Development Council directs the NPC in preparing the periodic plans. Eight ministries are directly involved in setting policy in areas related to food security," he said.
According to the statistics of the Ministry of Agriculture and Cooperatives, wheat production was down 17 percent this fiscal year due to drought. Similarly, drought brought down paddy production by 11 percent and corn by 4 percent.
The fall in production is likely to affect prices. A recent study done by the Department of Industry revealed that the price of coarse rice was up 41 percent in February compared to the same month in 2009.
Similarly, the price of lentil increased 25 percent, flour 25 percent and black gram 44 percent compared to last year. Sugar rose by 60 percent.
Experts said that the increasing gap between demand and supply of food items had pushed prices up. They said that rising prices had severely affected rural households resulting in their being malnourished.
Nathu Prasad Chaudhary, secretary at the Agriculture Ministry, said that an integrated livelihood improvement approach was required to ensure food security at the local level. He added that increasing access to markets, capacity building of farmers and developing entrepreneurship for high-value cash crops and commodities were needed to cope with such emerging problems.
Posted on: 2010-04-01 08:17
Post Your Comment