More than 70 percent of Nepal’s population works in agriculture, yet this South Asian country struggles to produce an adequate and affordable supply of food. The Government of Nepal and donors have made food security a national priority and have increased support to developing the agriculture sector for better food security.
340THOUSAND
Producers using new technologies and practices with Feed the Future’s help in FY17
$93MILLION
Annual agricultural sales generated by Nepalese reached by Feed the Future in FY17
1.6MILLION
Children under 5 reached with nutrition help in FY17
$1.9MILLION
New private investment leveraged by Feed the Future in FY17
35PERCENT
Reduction in the prevalence of poverty in the areas where Feed the Future has worked since 2011
24PERCENT
Increase in the prevalence of children (6-23 months) receiving a minimum acceptable diet in Nepal
Key Achievements
Feed the Future trained more than 300,000 smallholder producers, expanded or formed more than 4,010 farmers groups, and supported nearly 20,000 additional private sector enterprises and organizations in 2017.
Feed the Future farmers substantially increased their yields by an average of 36 percent for rice, 62 percent for maize, and 82 percent for lentils since the start of the initiative. Farmers also more than doubled their vegetable yields. As a result of the yields increase, Feed the Future farmers earned $667 for rice, $778 for maize, $843 for lentils and between $4,822 to $8,694 for high-value vegetables per household.
Feed the Future increased access to formal credit and helped savings and credit cooperatives and micro-finance institutions expand their client base by linking them to farmers groups. As a result, more than 76,000 households accessed agricultural loans worth more than $10.8 million in total.
Source
These results above reflect information from the U.S. Agency for International Development, the U.S. Department of Agriculture, Peace Corps and the U.S. Department of the Treasury (through the Global Agriculture and Food Security Program) reported into Feed the Future’s central monitoring system for fiscal year (FY17). Impact data for poverty and stunting statistics come from the 2015 Nepal Interim Assessment Report, originally collected through the Nepal AHS in 2013-2014 (poverty) and the Nepal MICS in 2014. For more information on the indicators above, please view the Feed the Future Indicator Handbook. All dollar amounts are in U.S. dollars.
Increase resilience to climatic and economic shocks and stressors
Improve the nutritional status of women and children
Photo by Fintrac Inc.
Zones of Influence in Nepal
21 hill and terai districts in the western, mid-western and far western regions
4 earthquake -affected districts in the central and eastern regions
Background Stats
6.9MILLION
Number of people living in Feed the Future target regions (Feed the Future Interim Survey)
7.5PERCENT
Annual GDP growth; agriculture accounts for 27% of added value (World Bank, 2017)
81PERCENT
Percentage of population living in rural Nepal (World Bank, 2017)
20.9PERCENT
Percentage of population living below Nepal’s total poverty line in Feed the Future target regions (AHS, 2014)
Value Chains
Vegetables
Cereals (Rice & Maize)
Lentils
Livestock
Approach
Despite Nepal’s agricultural potential, two out of every three Nepalese suffer from food insecurity at some time during the year. The prevalence of stunting for Nepal stands at 37.4 percent nationally, and 47 percent of children under five are stunted in Feed the Future target regions.
The underlying causes of hunger, poverty and undernutrition in Nepal include low agricultural productivity, limited livelihood opportunities, weak market connections and coordination, low production and consumption of highly nutritious foods, poor infrastructure, and inadequate government resources. Gender and caste relationships play an important role in food security as a majority of women and many disadvantaged persons, who often do not have access to their own land, cash or other productive assets, work in agriculture. Widespread migration of men gives women more say over production decisions but imposes labor and other time allocation constraints on them. Furthermore, women and children typically suffer greater levels of hunger and poverty than men.
Despite these difficulties, there are many opportunities for substantial improvement in Nepal. The Government of Nepal and donors have made food security a national priority and have increased support to developing the agriculture sector for better food security, stronger resilience to shocks and stresses, more commercial opportunities, and to address global and regional trade issues with India and China.
Nepal has the agroecological potential to be a food surplus country and has an excellent track record in piloting groundbreaking development programs.
While continuing to collaborate with the Government of Nepal (GON) at the provincial and district levels, Feed the Future is actively working with the private sector, investing in productivity-enhancing agribusiness, and increasing access to finance and expanding markets. New roles for the private sector may emerge, such as private sector fertilizer blending and distribution.
Feed the Future is promoting digital technologies and services to accelerate progress towards its goals and testing promising applications for financial services, agricultural production and marketing, and seed systems. Feed the Future is identifying data sources and knowledge resources, linking up developers, service providers, businesses, investors, government, donors, and farmers, and facilitating a means to scale up applications and enable their path to market.
Activities
Feed the Future supports the following programs, partnerships and organizations in Nepal.
Feed the Future Business Literacy Project
Feed the Future Innovation Lab for Horticulture
Feed the Future Innovation Lab for Integrated Pest Management
Feed the Future Innovation Lab for Nutrition
Feed the Future Policy Reform Initiative
Food for Peace Promoting Agriculture, Health and Alternative Livelihood (PAHAL)
Food for Peace Sustainable Action for Resilience and Food Security (SABAL)
Global Agriculture and Food Security Program
Knowledge-Based Integrated Sustainable Agriculture in Nepal Project (KISAN II)
