Food shortage hits four districts hard

People in two districts of the mid-western region and two districts of the far western development region are reeling under acute food shortage.People in rural areas of Rolpa have been starving due to the lack of food items. The condition is likely to aggravate further after the district-based office of ... ...Food Corporation stopped selling rice today, saying it had run out of stock.A decline in maize and wheat production this year was another reason for food scarcity in the district.According to Rolpa DDC, some 30,451 families cannot produce food sufficient for themselves while only 8,095 households meet their yearly food need. The district thus needs at least 22,000 metric tonnes of annual food import.Dalit communities in northern parts of the district are the worst hit by food shortage. Villagers are found roaming around in search for food. Many depend on wild roots. People from rural areas have started coming to the district headquarters Liwang in search of food.Due to higher prices in private shops, people used to depend on NFC to purchase rice. Dhawang, Hwama, Kureli, Mirul, Rangsi and Jelwang of the district are more affected by the shortage.“If we cannot take rice from the NFC office, we will have nothing to eat,” said Budi Maya Buda of Dhangsi.“As food is not available in the village, I have come to the district headquarters,” Jung Bahadur Sunar of Kotgaun said.NFC district branch chief Shyam Kumar Regmi said NFC had been supplying 1,100 quintals of rice to the district annually. He said he had asked the government to supply 3,500 quintals of additional rice to the district to avoid starvation.A report from Rukum said, food shortage has aggravated due to the obstruction of roads by floods and landslides. Bus service in the district was halted in mid-May. Even tractors have not been plying for the past one week.Daily essentials like rice, pulses, cooking oil and salt are hard to find and their price have nearly doubled in Khalanga, Rukumkot, Chaurjahari, Simrad, Bairagithanti and other places. The price of rice is Rs 70 a kg while half a litre of cooking oil costs Rs 170, locals and businessmen said.Consumers accused businessmen of hoarding the goods and selling the same at higher prices.In Dipayal, food crisis has hit Bajhang and Bajura in the far western region. “Some VDCs have been reeling under food shortage for nearly a month now,” said Dev Bahadur Saud of Kada VDC in Bajhang.Bajura has been facing an acute shortage of food for the past one week. The shortage had begun due to the strike launched by the Chambers of Commerce and Industries against the syndicate systems of truckers. The row between the truckers and businessmen was yet to be solved.“There is a lack of food in 18 VDCs and the NFC depot in Martadi, the district headquarters, has been locked as it does not have any stock,” said a local journalist Dayaram Pandit.Basanta Bhattarai, sub-regional administrator of the far west, said the efforts to send food items to Bajhang and Bajura from Dhangadhi has been hit due to bad weather.

Add to: del.icio.us | Digg