Food and Environment

by Yadav Sharma Bajagai Jagat Bahadur Shahi (name changed) of Mugu, one of the remote districts of Nepal, hardly remembers when he has been able to feed their fill to his children last time. His six years old daughter and four years old son are so severely malnourished that anyone with kind heart cannot stop tear rolling down his/her eyes seeing them. These children had to bear the demise of their loving mother and Jagat Bahadur's caring wife last year as she was not lucky enough to get adequate food during her pregnancy.   Pouring salt on his wound, his two years old daughter leaved the world last month due to malnutrition.  Every morning Jagat Bahadur wakes up with a dream of having enough food to feed his children. He has a desire neither for a cozy house nor for a luxury car. He doesn't have a dream to send his children in expensive private school.   He just prays to have a handful of rice for his two little cuties. 

by Yadav Sharma Bajagai The Nepalese economy is fundamentally agrarian and the agriculture contributes to approximately one third of Gross Domestic Product (GDP) and the largest source of informal employment to the people.   Reducing poverty, improving food security and achieving sustainable development cannot be imagined in the agrarian economy like Nepal without inclusive development of agriculture sector. Two major requirements for the development of agriculture sector in our context are adequate investment and conducive policies.  One of the major constraints faced by the agriculture sector in Nepal is the under-investment from both public and private sectors. Ministry of Agriculture Development is receiving approximately 3% of national budget which is not sufficient to promote adequate agricultural growth and ensure food security to ever-growing population. Out of this inadequate allocation, significant amount of public expenditure is being expended to gi...