An Assessment of the Impact of the Global Crisis and Other Shocks on Household Food Security in Nepal - April 2023

Executive Summary

The global crisis has continued to disturb global food systems, causing price shocks in food commodities and agricultural inputs. Combined with frequent climatic and economic shocks, this has continued to impact poor and vulnerable households. Although Nepal performed relatively well in poverty and food security indices compared to other similar countries with low per capita income1, across the country the impact of the crisis often varies by geographical region, type of livelihood and the economic situation of the household. WFP conducted a nationally representative household survey from the first week of April to the first week of May 2023 to explore the impact of the effect of the global crisis across the country’s different regions and livelihood groups using a two-stage random sampling technique to collect data.

Overall, the findings indicate that food security in Nepal has improved slightly compared to October 2022. This improvement could be partially attributed to the relative stability in food prices during recent months due to improvements in supply and food availability following the winter crop harvest, as shown in the regular WFP Nepal market updates. Policy measures taken by the Government of Nepal to ease the supply of essential goods as well as crisis response programme interventions by development partners may have also contributed to improving or preventing the worsening of the food security situation in Nepal.

However, the prolonged global crisis, together with the frequent occurrence of different types of shocks can continue to lead to increased challenges being faced by poor and vulnerable households in accessing their essential needs. Consistent with earlier assessments, households relying on the informal sector and living in remote and rural areas were more likely to be food insecure. There is therefore a need for stakeholders and policy makers to remain vigilant and monitor the situation regularly to prevent more households from sliding into food insecurity in the absence of targeted support.