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VOL. 03, NO. 03, July 01, 2009 (Ashadh 17 2066)
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Hunger Strike
The erratic rainfall has hit the agriculture triggering fear of widespread food shortage
By SANJAYA DHAKAL
Last week when Finance Secretary Rameshwore Khanal spoke before the press, he was unusually candid about the government’s failure to address what he called as ‘consequences of climate change.’
“For a long time, we had not paid attention to climate change. But sometimes our paddy production was hit and sometimes wheat production was hit. This year we assume our paddy production will decline (due to delayed monsoon),” he said.
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| Rice Planting: Little water |
“We have, therefore, decided to give high priority to addressing the consequences of climate change in this year’s budget.
In fact, in the last one year alone, Nepal had witnessed extreme fluctuations in weather pattern.
The massive Kosi inundation in the east and flash flood in west had rendered thousands of people homeless while the prolonged drought in the winter severely hampered agriculture.
The effect of the delayed monsoon this year – which came some 15 days late than normal – is yet to be ascertained.
Officials at the Ministry of Agriculture and Cooperatives have not been able to come up with actual estimations of the effect of delayed monsoon.
They have, however, calculated the consequences of winter drought.
According to a joint assessment by the Ministry of Agriculture and Cooperatives (MoAC), the UN Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) and the UN World Food Program (WFP), winter drought has led to a severe drop in crop production, placing more than two million people at high risk of food insecurity.
The 2008/2009 winter drought – said to be one of the worst in the country’s history - has destroyed crops across Nepal, with wheat and barley production reduced by 14 and 17 percent respectively.
The assessment report states that crop yields in some districts in Mid- and Far-Western Nepal – which received less than 50 percent of average rainfall during the period from November 2008 to February 2009 - have dropped by more than half.
Severity of Impact
The assessment report has warned that 40 out of the 75 districts in the country are currently food deficit because of the drought.
Its effect on the nutrition situation is harsher. “Half of children under the age of five in these districts are stunted, while 39 percent of children are underweight and 13 percent are severely malnourished,” the report says.
As a consequence of the fall in crop production, the number of people the WFP is assisting in the country has increased from 1.5 million to 2.2 million in the recent times.
WFP has said it will provide food assistance for an additional 700,000 persons while helping drought-affected communities build assets through a variety of Food for Work and Food for Training projects. Likewise, FAO plans to work with local communities to expand irrigation networks while distributing seeds for the next harvest.
“We are extremely concerned with the present food supply situation,” said Bui Thi Lan, FAO Country Representative.
“We urge more efforts from the Government of Nepal and the international community to provide immediate support for the next season crop to farmers in Far and Mid –Western regions where 75 percent of the cultivated land is un-irrigated,” Lan said, adding that timely support in terms of agricultural inputs, especially seeds, fertilizers and repair of small irrigation schemes will help needed farmers in these areas get a better harvest for their own food security.
The WFP officials have said that the humanitarian disaster emanating from food insecurity is already unfolding in the country.
“We are already noticing that people have started to sell their assets, migrate for work and in some cases skip meals,” said Richard Ragan, WFP Representative in Nepal.
“This is very worrying. We are also concerned about the impact that road blockades and increased food and fuel prices are having on mountain and hill markets. The supply of food stocks in local markets is insufficient and in some cases depleted,” he said, adding that farmers – who make up more than 60 percent of Nepal’s population – depend upon the country’s winter crop production to tide them over until the main crop is harvested in September/October.
While the effect of winter drought has been so severe, it is anybody’s guess what will happen if the monsoon – which has already been delayed by two weeks – turns out to be weak as has been predicted by Met officials.
Since paddy is the most important agricultural product of Nepal, which is closely linked with food security of overwhelming majority of Nepalese, and since its production largely depends on the monsoon rainfall, one can only pray that the Lords of Clouds will smile on Nepalese farmers.
The farmers have no alternative to hoping for good rainfall because only ten percent of the fields in the country enjoy irrigation facility.
