Where is Nepal in the Food System Transition?

Abstract

In Nepal, 27% of GDP is contributed by the agriculture sector with 65.56% of households depending upon agriculture for employment. However, 51.8% of households are still food insecure and 25.2% are under the poverty line. Given these facts, it is interesting to watch how the economic growth and food system will go forward, despite the paradoxical history of development-modest growth but brisk poverty reduction has already been experienced. While literature noted that the transition to a food system is rapid for developing countries, very limited analysis linking the food system to its drivers and its consequences exists in the context of Nepal. The study examined food system transition using the secondary data from different sources and analyzing it through a conceptual framework of the food system. The study showed the contemporary food security issue is disparity in food access among the peoples driven by the poverty gap. The trends and scenarios shown in results revealed that the tendencies of food system drivers are on positive sides, but the structural foundation of agriculture (land issues, labor migration, mechanization, adaptations, etc.) is not so strong. This situation has created a serious question on the transition of the food system in Nepal. For this, the policy priorities are imperative to be institutionalized at all three levels of government-federal, state and local, and need to be concerted to transform the food system.

Does adoption of agroforestry increase farm production and dietary diversity in the hills of Nepal?

“…The regression results show a significant positive association between farm production diversity and dietary diversity as comparable to past studies (Jones et al, 2014;Sibhatu et al, 2015;Huluka et al, 2019). The moderate positive association observed between farm production diversity and household dietary diversity shows multiple other determinants of household dietary choice (Sharma and Pudasaini, 2020). Changed or added crops, improved market opportunities and other farm level changes could have played together in determining the diversity of the crops and the diets in the study area (Figure 5).…”

“…It was beyond this research scope to analyze market opportunities, seasonality and other socioeconomic factors that have complementing relationship with farm production diversity in determining household dietary diversity (Bellon et al, 2016). The condition is also likely as the cash crop producers gain more income from sales and possible transition of food consumption from mostly cereal based to other food groups (Sharma and Pudasaini, 2020). However, this is a complicated decision of an individual household as other factors also govern the food choice such as taste, physical appearance, prices, and purchase of processed food (Sharma and Pudasaini, 2020).…”

“…The condition is also likely as the cash crop producers gain more income from sales and possible transition of food consumption from mostly cereal based to other food groups (Sharma and Pudasaini, 2020). However, this is a complicated decision of an individual household as other factors also govern the food choice such as taste, physical appearance, prices, and purchase of processed food (Sharma and Pudasaini, 2020). Socioeconomic factors such as household decision-making power and ethnicity also have an influence in the household dietary diversity (Ng'endo et al, 2016).…”

“…Prior studies have also highlighted agroforestry system as a critical tool to enhance biodiversity (Jose, 2012), hence it is expected to improve farm production diversity. Other literature suggests diversified diet among cash crops growing farmers (Sharma and Pudasaini, 2020). While coffee-based agroforestry in Deusa incorporates coffee as a cash crop, there are limited studies on farm production diversity, household dietary diversity, and their relationship in agroforestry intervention.…”

Nepal: Need for an Alternative Food System

“…A review shows that there is about two third jump in the import of key agricultural products in Nepal from India between 2015/16 to 2019/2020 (Sharma & Pudasaini, 2020). Adhikari et.…”