Background
Household
food deficiency due to low agricultural productivity, limited livelihood
opportunities, inefficient food distribution system, weak market linkage, poor
infrastructure and lack of awareness among general public about healthy food
habit are some of the development challenges in Nepal. Within
the country western Nepal suffer more from poverty and hunger with 37% of the people living below the poverty line compared to the national
average of 25.16%. Similarly, productivity of major crops is
significantly lower than the national average which is already among the lowest
in South Asia. Per capita consumption of animal products (32 litres of milk,
7.5 kg of meat and 6.4 eggs per capita per annum) is among the lowest in the
region hunger
indices pointing to an extremely alarming situation.Household food balance (result of food
inflow, household production, household consumption and outflow) is negative
almost throughout the year in the region.
Government
of Nepal has developed a Country Investment Plan (CIP) in 2010 in consultation
with donors, civil society organizations and other stakeholders to comprehensively
address the gap of funding in the area of agriculture and food security issues
including availability, access and utilization of food. The Agriculture and Food Security Project (AFSP) is well aligned with
country need and government priorities. Building on a Country Investment Plan
(CIP) to comprehensively address agriculture and food security issues, the
Government of Nepal (GoN) submitted an investment proposal to the Global
Agriculture and Food Security Program (GAFSP) and was competitively awarded a
grant of US$46.5 million in June 2011. GoN has designed Agriculture and Food Security Project (AFSP) of US$58 million
dollar including US$11.5 million GoN contribution to be implemented from FY
2013/14 for 5 years.
