May is the time of the year when a large number of migrant Nepali workers return from India to their home villages. They make the journey in order to harvest winter crops and start sowing summer crops, especially in the most remote hills and mountains, IRIN reports.
With the notorious “hungry season” over in rural Nepal, villagers are now in a rush to store enough food to last until August, when a second seasonal lean period begins and lasts for around four weeks.
For decades, food shortages have been part of life in rural Nepal during the pre-harvest seasons of March and August. Now, food experts are concerned about speculative media reports that the Maoist conflict is leading to a more serious food crisis. Some local newspapers have even gone as far as saying villages controlled by Maoist rebels are at risk of famine.
– If there is a food crisis according to what is reported in the media, then it should be based on facts and not speculation, Erika Jørgensen, UN World Food Programme (WFP) representative in Nepal, told IRIN.
– Rumours should not set the agenda. Only facts count. Our monitoring shows no sign of a large food crisis, added Jørgensen.
Since October 2002, WFP has surveyed the food security situation in 32 districts of Nepal where 30 field monitors collect household and community data to provide factual information about the food supply situation in the country.
Food security experts believe that Nepal has not yet reached a point where lack of food is leading to a humanitarian crisis. But there is real concern that speculation about severe food shortages might set the alarm bells ringing internationally.
– The international community is bound to respond to such [perceived food] crises. Once their representatives come here and see that there is not such a big problem this will have serious impact on future relief and aid when and if a real crises take place, said a Western food security analyst, who wanted to remain anonymous.
Nepals food supply problem has not reached the level of seriousness of Dafur in western Sudan, where food security has been destroyed by civil war and drought. Experts in Nepal are now calling for a realistic assessment of the situation.
– The problem is, most of the news about the situation in remote areas is taken from district headquarters. It is very important for us (WFP) to visit remote parts of the country by which we can assess the actual situation, Subash Singh of the WFP told IRIN. Singh has worked and travelled extensively in the districts of Nepals Midwest region where food is scarce.
In the last few months, news reports of a national food crisis increased after the governments Nepal Food Corporation (NFC) was unable to airlift rice into some remote districts because of the Maoist blockade.
Many district offices also complained that the NFC was not supplying enough rice to feed affected villagers. Lack of rice was interpreted as being the cause of a food crisis.
– The main issue is most of the rice is airlifted to the district headquarters. Once the chopper is unable to take rice due to some reasons, then news spreads that there is a food crisis, explained Singh.
In villages where rice is not available, people rely on alternative food like wheat, millet, beans and maize, officials told IRIN.
But analysts warn that very real problems do exist in relation to food security in many parts of Nepal.
Kilde: FN-bureauet IRINnews
