The west is hungry

[Karnali Messenger-Karnali Forum for Sustainable development]

The west is hungry

Just as the political crisis cools down word of a serious food shortage
in the Karnali
Naresh Newar
URL:http://www.nepalitimes.com/issue/296/Nation/11772

The rains of the past weeks may have given Kathmandu respite from
load-shedding and a false sense of hope that the long winter drought is
finally over.

But nearly six-months without rain from October to March has devastated
farming in western Nepal and the full impact is only now becoming
apparent.

The arid Karnali Zone, which includes Humla, Mugu, Kalikot, Dolpa and
Jumla used to be a food deficit area even in the best of times. But the
conflict and the drought has made the situation much worse than most
can remember.

"Many people have already run out of their food stocks and are now
eating herbs and roots to survive," says Chandra B Shahi, MP from
Mugu from where he recently arrived in the capital to take his oath of
office. Farmers across western Nepal couldn't plant their barley and
wheat and where they did, the plants just wintered away.

Cheers,
Tek