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Nepal

Nepal Food Security Bulletin, Issue 50 [EN/NE]

Attachments

This issue covers the period of mid-November 2016 to mid-March 2017, the second trimester of Nepali Fiscal Year 2073/74 (the Nepali months of Mangsir, Paush, Magh, and Falgun). It is based on the outcomes of NeKSAP District Food Security Network (DFSN) meetings held in 74 of 75 districts in March 2017. General factors affecting food security during this reporting period (between November and March) include the post-harvest period of summer crops (paddy, maize), the planting of winter crops (wheat, barley), the winter lean season, colder temperatures and minimal precipitation, improved road and trail access in the post-monsoon period, and increased remittance inflow from the festival season in October.

In this reporting period:

  • DFSNs classified 48 Village Development Committees (VDCs) in 6 districts (5 in Dhading, 11 in Gorkha, 3 in Kalikot, 10 in Mugu, 10 in Humla, and 9 VDCs in Bajura) as highly food insecure (Phase 3). This is 1.5 percent of the 3,367 VDCs and municipalities in the 74 districts. DFSNs estimated that roughly 87,100 people in those districts were currently highly food insecure and require external assistance to meet food and non-food needs. DFSNs in those districts attributed the situation to the winter lean period, depleted household food stocks and transitory food gaps, geographic remoteness, poor incomes from the sale of livestock and nontimber forest products (NTFPs) and—in Dhading and Gorkha—the lasting impacts of the April-May 2015 earthquakes.

  • DFSNs classified an additional 183 VDCs in 14 districts as moderately food insecure (Phase 2). This is 5.4 percent of the 3,367 VDCs and municipalities in the 74 districts. More than three quarters of the VDCs classified as Phase 2 were in the mid-and farwestern hill and mountain districts.

  • The food security situation in the earthquake affected districts has generally improved compared to the situation reported by the DFSNs over the past two years. None of the VDCs in the current period were classified as severely food insecure (Phase 4) and the number of VDCs classified as highly food insecure (Phase 3) has also decreased. Nevertheless, there remain pockets of food insecurity in Dhading and Gorkha (as described above).

  • The food security situation in some districts of the mid-and far-western regions has deteriorated compared to the previous reporting period (mid-July to mid-November 2016). DFSNs attributed the situation to the winter lean period and associated transitory food gaps. Many of the hill and mountain districts in these regions had experienced successive food security crises between July 2015 to July 2016 as a result of poor summer crop production in 2015 and a subsequent severe winter drought in 2015/16.

  • According to Nepal Rastra Bank, the year-on-year Consumer Price Index (CPI) was 2.9 percent in March 2017. The food and beverage index was negative at 0.4 percent compared to 10.3 percent in March 2016.