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Rural Livelihoods at Risk How Nepalese Farmers Cope with Food Insecurity
Abstract
Since the early 1990s, Nepal has changed from a net exporter to a net importer of food. Nearly half of Nepal's districts have become deficient in food. The situation is most serious for peripheral mountain regions of the Middle Hills. The paper concentrates on food deficient village communities in fragile mountain tracts of Nepal. It is based on household surveys in six peripheral mountain villages. More than fifty percent of all households are not even self-sufficient in food for six months in a year. The project then focuses on the coping strategies of the mountain farmers which aim at bridging this gap in food supply. The analysis reveals highly diverse, complex, and innovative strategies which require high degrees of mobility and activity. There is a general tendency that these strategies are increasingly oriented towards markets. It becomes clear that the growing tendency towards external linkages offers new potentialities, but, at the same time, new risks for the mountain population. The project therefore examines the major determinants which make specific coping strategies more or less successful. In addition to caste and ethnicity, household structures (including work participation patterns, gender composition, age structure, and health status) emerge as most decisive factors. Despite all efforts, the majority of the mountain population, nevertheless, is severely undernourished. For an increasing proportion of the village people, survival has becomes a permanent crisis.
... Various reports on horticulture and food security assessments in Jammu and Kashmir have noted that low horticultural productivity is a significant constraint to achieving food security in the UT. (Wani et al., 2021b;Bohle and Adhikari, 1998;Gittelsohn et al., 1998;Seddon and Adhikari, 2003;FAO, 2010;Pyakuryal et al., 2010;Sanogo and Maliki, 2010;Wani et al., 2021a). The apple producers have less understanding and accurate information about recent changes in the apple area over the years to design appropriate production plans and technology targeting schemes in the region . ...
Improved high yielding apple varieties are an important avenue for reducing hunger and food insecurity in developing countries and improving horticultural production and productivity. The study uses cross-sectional data obtained from a survey conducted during 2021 fruit season, a probit model analysis was used to determine the probability of adopting new improved apple varieties (NIAVs) by growers from two main apple producing districts of Kashmir valley i.e. Shopian and Pulwama. The results revealed that education of the respondent, extension services availed and apple plant accessibility play significant roles in decisions regarding adoption of new apple varieties. Moreover, farming variables like holding size is the key factor influencing the probability of adopting NIAVs in the study area. The extensive role performed by extension services, enormous emphasis on dissemination, demonstration, and growers participatory studies and training packages to popularize and undertake new apple varieties and enhance their adoption rate are required on large scale in the study area. The study suggests that policy intervention ought to be made on improving the educational status of apple growing households, and developing programs on varietal package of apple which offer apple growers a variety of choices in slecting the appropriate varieties for adoption. Such programs ultimately help growers develop more profit-oriented behaviour which will not only enhance adoption rate, profitability, production but will also improve food & nutritional security in long run in the region in particular and whole valley in general.
... In Nepal, there is a food shortage crisis, which is most severe in the mountainous and hill regions, where there is a six-month or longer annual food shortage (Bohle andAdhikari 1998, FAO 2003). The situation could deteriorate unless agricultural productivity and rural economies are improved. ...
... Therefore, there needs to be an effort to improve the ability or capacity of the society in facing disaster. The coping capacity, which is focusing on the social-agriculture aspect, is still rare (Rieux, Karen, Jaquet, Stephanie, Derron, Henri, Jaboyedoff 2012;Bohle & Adhikari 1998;Gurung 1989). The research objective of this research is to elaborate the coping strategies of society based on the socio-agriculture aspect in the Gede Catchment. ...
... Therefore, there needs to be an effort to improve the ability or capacity of the society in facing disaster. The coping capacity, which is focusing on the social-agriculture aspect, is still rare (Rieux, Karen, Jaquet, Stephanie, Derron, Henri, Jaboyedoff 2012;Bohle & Adhikari 1998;Gurung 1989). The research objective of this research is to elaborate the coping strategies of society based on the socio-agriculture aspect in the Gede Catchment. ...
... Therefore, there needs to be an effort to improve the ability or capacity of the society in facing disaster. The coping capacity, which is focusing on the social-agriculture aspect, is still rare (Rieux, Karen, Jaquet, Stephanie, Derron, Henri, Jaboyedoff 2012;Bohle & Adhikari 1998;Gurung 1989). The research objective of this research is to elaborate the coping strategies of society based on the socio-agriculture aspect in the Gede Catchment. ...
The learning process during the COVID-19 pandemic requires effective and efficient communication. This research was conducted to find out the interpersonal communication provided by teachers through the level of mastery of information technology in the online learning process during the COVID-19 pandemic. The respondents of the study were teachers who were scattered in West Java. The research approach is using a quantitative approach with an explanative method. The results showed that teachers in West Java can recognize information technology tools and are able to use communication tools and applications for online learning. Mastery of teacher technology relates to interpersonal communication which is seen based on aspects of friendliness, attentiveness, openness, argumentation, and responsiveness. Teacher’s ability to manage communication technology during online learning relates to optimal online learning. Thus, the teacher’s communication skills are related to the ease of implementing the online learning process through available communication tools.
... Therefore, there needs to be an effort to improve the ability or capacity of the society in facing disaster. The coping capacity, which is focusing on the social-agriculture aspect, is still rare (Rieux, Karen, Jaquet, Stephanie, Derron, Henri, Jaboyedoff 2012; Bohle & Adhikari 1998;Gurung 1989). The research objective of this research is to elaborate the coping strategies of society based on the socio-agriculture aspect in the Gede Catchment. ...
... We explore this issue in two contrasting agro ecological regions in the South Asian nation of Nepal, a country in which nearly 50 % of the population suffers from hunger and malnutrition and the majority of citizens depend on subsistence farming as their livelihood (Commission, n.d.;Division et al., 2011). Food self-sufficiency in terai region of Nepal is 72% and that of mountains is 11% and Terai have lesser food nonsufficient than hills and mountains that may be due to availability of more cultivated area and others inputs and about 10% of households, suffer chronic food insecurity and more than 50% farmers are food nonsufficient even for 6 months (Joshi and Maharjan, 2007;Maharjan and Joshi, 2011;Bohle and Adhikari, 1998). ...
Biodiversity is more recognized as a critical component of food production and food security and an important component of environment conservation. So, the paper tries to address the key research questions about the factors influencing crop diversity on the farm and are the household with high farm diversity more food secure or not? The study thus aimed to assess the on-farm crop diversity and their relation to food self-sufficiency in two different agro-ecological regions of Nepal, i.e. Tulsipur sub-metropolitan (inner terai) and Sundarbazar municipality (mid-hill). For this, a total of 70 households were randomly selected, 35 from each region, and semi-structured interviews, direct observation, and focus group discussion were employed to collect primary data. And the richness, Shannon-wiener, Simpson index, and food self-sufficiency level of households were assessed. The Shannon Wiener index of vegetables, spices were found to be 3.770 and 3.721 and that of fruits was found 2.772 and 2.607 in the home garden of Tulsipur and Sundarbazar respectively. Food self-sufficiency was achieved among 40% of households in the Tulsipur while the figure of the Sundarbazar was only 28.6%. The size of cultivated area and species richness was found moderately positive correlated. Statistical analysis showed that agro-biodiversity across two regions had less difference and finally, the paper showed that biodiversity level has a direct link to household food self-sufficiency level which helps in reducing food insecurity. Our results, therefore, promote to make effective implementation of regional food security strategies and policies to improve.
Household food diversity index (HFDI) is qualitative measure of food consumption that reflects household access to a variety of food groups. Food habit is the way people eat food which is influenced by various factors. Impacts of climate change poses a threat on food diversity and food habit and food security in agrarian Bhutanese. The study aims to analyze if household food diversity and food habits are affected by climate change in the three ecological zones. Household food diversity and food habits in Gasa, Punakha and Wangdue Phodrang districts (Dzongkhags) were compared and relationships were drawn. Household level data were collected using survey method from 368 randomly selected households, stratified into three agroecological zones, by administering pretested semi-structured questionnaire. The survey questions were designed using guidelines of Food and Agricultural Organization (FAO). Food components consumed in the last 24 hours were recorded and grouped into 10 food groups. Food diversity indices are computed at the levels of household, Chiwog (village), Gewog (block), Dzongkhag (district), and at the whole study area. Spearman's correlation tests were used to evaluate relationship between household food Original Research Article Chapagai et al.; Int.
People's livelihood determines by a variety of factors- availability of assets, opportunities, and restrictions created by the environment, and people's evaluation of these factors. The present paper aims to analyze adversities of rural livelihoods focusing on the case of Devghat Gaunpalika of Tanahun district, Nepal. This article is based on primary data/information acquired from a field survey conducted during December 2017 through group discussion, key informant interview, and field observation. People in the Devghat area perform farm and off-farm activities to eke out wide shorts of their livelihood needs. However, livelihood in this area is at risk owing to combination of adversities such as food insufficiency, shortage of facilities and services, low level of educational attainment, lower household income, and others. Three-fourth of the households adopted agriculture as their main occupation to fulfil their household needs. Household income is low. About of 62 percent households earn below NRs 5000 per month. Twenty-five percent of the population earns their livelihood by working as wage-based labors. A low level of educational attainment and poor coping capacity also indicate local livelihoods at risk.
Recent policy measures have recognized people's participation in forest/watershed conservation in the Asian countries. In places like Nepal, where societies are highly stratified by caste/ethnicity, people's concerns and socioeconomic conditions have significant implications for implementation of watershed management activities. This paper analyzes the relationship between people's concerns, socioeconomic conditions, land use, terrain slope and proportion of caste/ethnic households. The analysis revealed that there is a significant effect of caste/ethnicity on people's concerns and socioeconomic conditions. It was also found that people's concerns are more serious in the medium and high slope areas compared to the flat areas. Predictor variables for food availability are proportion of low caste households in the ward, and medium and high slope area. For fuelwood availability, they are walking distance to fuelwood forest, ownership of farmland, low caste households, high caste households and proportion of level terrace in the ward. Proportion of low caste households is the main predictor of illiteracy, followed by high slope area. Thus, it was found that people's concerns are collectively affected by the socioeconomic conditions of the local people, land use and natural conditions.
In the article we wish to explore, in theoretical terms, the interrelations between poverty, hunger and famine. In particular we argue that the locally and historically specific configuration of poverty, hunger and famine defines what we call a space of vulnerability, and it is one of our intentions to provide the theoretical means by which this space can be mapped with respect to its social, political, economic and structural-historical coordinates. An analysis of famine and hunger based on entitlements, if it is to be more than a conjunctural analysis, must account for: the particular distribution of entitlements and how they are reproduced in specific circumstances; the larger canvas of rights by which entitlements are defined, fought over, contested, and won and lost, and the structural properties of the political economy which precipitates entitlement crises. The totality of these processes define the space, a sort of social map, of vulnerability. Simultaneously these processes represent the building blocks of what we shall call a realist theory of famine and hunger. -from Authors