HIGHLIGHTS AND SITUATION SUMMARY
This issue covers the period of mid-July to mid-November 2016, the first trimester of Nepali Fiscal Year 2073/74 (the Nepali months of Shrawan, Bhadra, Asoj, and Kartik). This bulletin is based on the outcomes of NeKSAP district food security network (DFSN) meetings held in 74 of 75 districts during November and December 2016. The food security situation in this period has improved largely because of the crop harvests (maize in August/September and paddy in October/November) and larger remittance inflow during the festival season. In this period:
DFSNs classified 31 Village Development Committees (VDCs) in 4 earthquake affected districts (5 in Dhading, 11 in Gorkha, 9 in Nuwakot and 6 in Sindhupalchowk) as highly food insecure (Phase 3) and estimated that roughly 34,000 people in those districts were currently highly food insecure and require humanitarian assistance. DFSNs in those districts attributed the situation to geographic remoteness, poor road access during the monsoon, production drops in maize, lower incomes from agriculture and livestock, and poor health and sanitation in the post-earthquake period.
DFSNs classified an additional 175 VDCs in 15 districts as moderately food insecure (Phase 2). Nearly all of these VDCs are in the hills and mountains of the mid-western and central development regions.
The food security situation in the earthquake affected districts has generally improved compared to the situation reported by the DFSNs in July 2015, November 2015, March 2016 and July 2016. None of the VDCs in the current period were classified as severely food insecure (Phase 4) and the number of VDCs classified as highly food insecure (Phase 3) has also decreased. Nevertheless, there remain pockets of food insecurity in Dhading, Gorkha, Nuwakot, Sindhupalchowk (as described above).
In many districts of the mid-and far-western regions the food security situation, which had deteriorated from November 2015 to July 2016 as a result of poor summer crop production in 2015 and a subsequent winter drought in 2015/16, has now improved mainly because of the crop harvests and increased remittance inflow during the festival period. DFSNs in those districts did not classify any VDCs as highly food insecure (Phase 3) in this period.
According to Nepal Rastra Bank, the year-on-year Consumer Price Index (CPI) was 4.8 percent in November 2016. The vegetables sub-group had the largest year-on-year increase at 10.5 percent in November 2016. Compared to August-November 2015, the price of coarse rice and wheat flour increased by 1.9 percent and 1.8 percent respectively.
The Ministry of Agricultural Development (MoAD) estimated the total production of summer crops (paddy, maize, millet and buckwheat) at 7,807,834 mt. Production of paddy and maize, the two most important summer crops, was estimated at 5,230,327 mt and 2,259,445 mt respectively, an increase of 21.66 and 1.25 percent respectively compared to last year.