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14
Food Insecurity in Nepal:
A Poverty and Social Exclusion
Nexus
166
Changing paradigms of aid eff ec� veness in Nepal
–Ganga Dutta Acharya
Over the past decade, food security has emerged as one of the
prominent policy issues in development debates in Nepal. A number
of events have brought the ques� on into sharp focus in later years.
Reports of more than one fourth of the popula� on forced to go to
bed hungry every day, the media’s spotlight on food shortages,
starva� on and malnourishment in various districts of the country,
growing ac� vism of NGOs against the plight of the hungry, visible
impacts of globaliza� on on agriculture and farmers—all make this
issue prominent in policy discourses.
This paper briefl y examines the food security situa� on of the country
and reviews the obliga� ons and ini� a� ves by the government and
external development partners to ensure food security. This paper
mainly argues that food insecurity problems in Nepal largely bear
the structural causes while almost all interven� ons seek technical fi x
grossly ignoring the fundamental issues of structural transforma� on.
As a result mainstream interven� ons are less relevant, poorly
targeted and ineff ec� ve for the poor and excluded.
Key words: Food security, Right to Food, Chronic and Transitory Food
Insecurity, Food Aid, Poverty, Exclusion