Source: Food and Agriculture Organization
Country: Nepal
Jan 2016
Highlights
- FAO continues to support Government-led efforts to address and coordinate the response to food security and livelihood
needs in the six districts most severely affected by the earthquakes: Sindhupalchowk, Nuwakot, Dhading, Gorkha, Rasuwa, Dolakha. - Since April 2015, FAO has reached 240 000 households with agricultural assistance.
- FAO supported a Joint Assessment on Food Security, Livelihoods and Early Recovery Report (released in November 2015), which provides a detailed analysis of the emergency response and its impact on farming families. The key findings include:
– overall significant recovery in terms of food security amongst the affected population.
– resilience and recovery demonstrated by households in the assessed areas since the earthquakes.
– positive impact on affected families due to well-targeted response efforts.
– general availability of basic staples (cereals and pulses) in areas difficult to access (high hills and remote rural areas), but decreased availability of more diversified and expensive products such as vegetables, seeds, agricultural tools and veterinary drugs.
– continuous monitoring of vulnerable populations is required given the lower–than-expected rainfall during the monsoon season, early onset of winter and uncertainty of the ongoing border crisis. - FAO is now focused on longer-term recovery and **resilience work** that is critical to help vulnerable farmers rebuild their livelihoods by investing in the following activities:
– Prevent post-harvest losses by providing grain and seed storage metal bins.
– Ensure spring vegetable and maize crop planting through seed distribution.
– Support production of staples and high value crops by repairing small-scale irrigation schemes through community work.
– Improve nutrition and promote income generation by distributing materials and provide training for the construction of protective plastic tunnels for winter vegetable production.
– Keep animals healthy and productive by providing mineral mixture, training to produce mineral blocks and material to rehabilitate animal shelter. - The ongoing border crisis and the resulting import challenges have significantly affected operations. However, FAO has been able to effectively identify alternative local procurement options to meet the needs of its beneficiaries.