Food scarcity in West Nepal
Food security is a chronic problem in the mountains of Nepal. And yet it is only during disasters, when the problem assumes truly gigantic proportions, that it grabs the headlines. After a series of floods and landslides damaged crucial roads in Nepal this monsoon, many communities in Western Nepal have become isolated. Food scarcity has become a raging problem in Myagdi, Mugu and Darchula, among other places.
The locals have mules and porters carry the food from the closest markets, but that has proven woefully inadequate to meet the demand. The price of food has skyrocketed, leaving the poor unable to access the little food available. [break]
In the short term, using alternate means of transportation like helicopters to ferry important food items might be the solution. However, that is no solution in the long run. Locals in these far-flung areas have demanded that food security be ensured in the constitution. While this might be an important first step, such constitutional provisions will be worthless without clearly spelling out the mechanism. For a geographically challenged country like Nepal, where railroads are not viable and flights are expensive, roads are the most important means for transport of food and other essential items.
This is especially true of areas that do not grow enough food for its residents and where the nearest market may be several days away. And yet, most villages in Western Nepal continue to be isolated, as road construction proceeds at a much slower pace than in the rest of the country. It is about time Western Nepal was given the priority in development of transportation. Alternate road networks would ease the food crisis in the event of one road being damaged.
Rice may not grow up in the mountains where there is no way to irrigate rice fields, but other cereals like buckwheat, millet, and barley do grow, even in these seemingly inhospitable lands. But recently, it has been observed that locals prefer to eat rice over these cereals. First of all because it tastes better, and second, the government and international organizations offer it at big subsidy. In fact, other cereals like millet and buckwheat are much more nutritious than rice. The government needs to conduct awareness programs in these areas to encourage people to produce and consume local cereals, which would go a long way in improving food availability.
Floods and landslides may have heightened the problem at this point, but away from the spotlight, government negligence contributes to food scarcity all the year round. The latest food scarcity at Mugu, for instance, was not caused entirely by natural factors. The rice allocated for this region was sold en route to Mugu for a handsome profit. This is not the first time this kind of thing has happened.
There is a need for strict government monitoring of food items en route; absence of which (we now know) endangers vital lives. The time has come for the government to take the issue of food security in remote areas of Nepal seriously. A state which watches from the sidelines as its people starve to death is not worthy of being called a democracy.