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Covid-19 deepened food insecurity in Nepal: WFP

File: Rice planting (Ropain) is ongoing on the day of Ropain Diwas (Rice Day), in Lalitpur, on Monday, June 29, 2020.

Kathmandu, October 16

The United Nations World Food Programme (WFP) has commented that the Covid-19 pandemic deepened food security in Nepal.

“In recent months, with the Covid-19 pandemic, food insecurity has deteriorated in Nepal, and it can be further exacerbated by a lack of economic, physical and social access to nutritious and affordable food,” the UN agency says in a statement issued on the occasion of World Food Day on Friday, “In these tumultuous times, smallholder farmers in Nepal need support to sustainably grow, store, and transport produce to markets to improve their livelihoods.”

In Nepal, the socio-economic effects of the pandemic – particularly loss of livelihoods and incomes –are reducing communities’ ability to withstand potential shocks such as natural disasters, the agency reports. “Incidents of floods and landslides have further exacerbated food insecurity in parts of the country.”

“Efficient and effective food supply chains are essential to lowering the risks of food insecurity, malnutrition, food price fluctuations and can simultaneously create jobs,” says WFP Representative and Country Director Pippa Bradford.

“By empowering producers and retailers in the food systems economy, we help build food supply chains that are resilient to shocks, environmentally sustainable and that can ensure nutrition for all.”

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