Food Insecurity Threatens Nepal

According to the United Nations, more than 1 billion people around the world are facing starvation and 17,000 children die every day because of hunger. The ongoing global economic downturn has further exacerbated this crisis as big donors struggle to fund aid programs aimed at ending hunger.

It is not that the world does not have enough food to satisfy everyone. The problem lies in unfair distribution of wealth and resources, and the political and social turmoil many nations are struggling with. Some of the poorest nations are the ones that have to deal with violence, compromised social structures and lack of infrastructure - all of which make hunger in these nations more entrenched and difficult problems to solve.

In Nepal, the winter of 2008-2009 was especially bad for farmers, with one of the country's worst droughts in history. According to the U.N. World Food Program, wheat and barley production were reduced by 14 and 17 percent respectively. The level of hunger this year is expected to be one of the highest in 40 years.

The worst affected districts are the poorest regions in the country, and they are also the ones most affected by the 10-year Maoist insurgency.

A recent report by IRIN News said, "Nepal has one of South Asia's worst malnutrition rates, with almost 50 percent of children under five stunted and suffering from chronic malnutrition, according to the government's Demographic and Health Survey."

Prolonged violence has also disturbed local farming and food distribution and supply networks. The Maoists used to forcibly grab land and crops from locals engaged in large-scale farming and who did not support the so-called "people's revolution." Although now former guerillas have slowed down the use of such violent tactics, past takeovers continue to have a negative impact.

Nepal seriously lags behind when it comes to modernization and mechanization in the agricultural sector. The majority of farming is still done in the old-fashioned way - cattle are used to till the land and farmers manually sow the seeds and do the harvesting. Irrigation networks are minimal and mostly limited to the Terai plains.

Then, there is the big elephant in the room that no one dares to question - unfair and imbalanced trade agreements with India and other neighbors.

Globalization was supposed to bring the free flow of goods and trade between nations, and help poor nations like Nepal develop and strengthen their economies and get ahead.

Unfortunately for Nepalese farmers, cheap produce from India is threatening their survival. India's superior logistics and farming techniques means that their products are better and cheaper. One cannot blame Nepalese consumers for being practical and not patriotic with their money.

Unable to compete with Indian produce, many Nepalese farmers are leaving their profession, which adds to the food shortage. To make matters worse, rising prices of staples like rice, lentils and grains are pushing food further away from the Nepalese poor.

Meanwhile the government seems unable to bargain for better trade terms with India. No matter which party forms or leads the government in Kathmandu, trade terms with India are never a priority. For Nepalese leaders it is more important to keep New Delhi happy than to secure the basic necessities of their people.

Nepal's food insecurity and hunger problem will not be solved until it is tackled as part of the broader issues of poverty and the lack of political will and inability to prioritize agriculture.

Previously published at UPI Asia.