Participants at a function organised by World Food Programme (WFP) here on Friday concluded this, saying that hunger is directly linked to gender inequality. “Like men, if women are trained to enhance their skills in agriculture sector, it is likely that food production will rise by 22 percent,” said Dominique Hyde, WFP's deputy country director.
WFP estimates that 3.4 million people in Nepal have become victims of severe food insecurity due to food price rise in 2007/08 and winter drought in 2008/09. Similarly, it says that about five million people have fallen below the poverty line during the past three years and the cost of coping with food insecurity has increased dramatically. “Skill and knowledge is needed to cope up with the food deficit resulted in by climate change and decrease in arable land in view of rapid urbanisation,” said Lajana Manandhar, director of Lumanti.
According to WFP, women and children bear the brunt of poverty in Nepal, which it says is also one of the underlying causes of child undernourishment. Its data shows that 21 percent Nepali children are born underweight and malnutrition is to blame for the yearly death of 30,000 children and the national rate of malnutrition is among the highest in the world. “The Interim Constitution of Nepal has a provision regarding food insecurity and we have proposed to guarantee the right to food security as a fundamental right in the new constitution,” said lawmaker Shanti Adhikaari.
