Remote hilly regions of the Far west face food crisis during the rainy season

Birendra Bhatta, Dhangadhi: There is a problem of road closure in remote hilly districts of the far west where there is a food crisis during the rainy season. Food management and trading company Dhangadhi is obliged to transport food to those areas before the onset of rains. However, the problem of storing food items for the rainy season persists.

There is demand for food in the food crisis areas from July to September. However, there is no warehouse for storing food items before the onset of rains. Though there are warehouses at Kolti of Bajura and Khandeshwari depot of Darchula, the transporters have to return after selling the rest.

Chief of Food Depot Bajura Meghraj Ojha has complained that Dhangadhi has not been able to send the required food in the rainy season. "Dhangadhi has not been able to transport the required food so far. Even after the onset of the rainy season, the food crisis is likely to be repeated this year," he said.

The provincial office of the government's food trading company has been arranging food transportation on subsidized basis by fixing annual quota in the food crisis-prone areas.
The company claims that the quota rice of the remote hilly district has been almost shipped in the current fiscal year. Of the 5,000 quintals of rice allocated for Martadi, the district headquarters of Bajura, 4,500 quintals have already been transported. Out of the 6,500 quotas allotted for Bajura's Kolti, 5,000 quintals have been transported and 5,000 quintals have been allotted for Kabaddi.

Chief of Food Depot Achham, Hiramani Joshi, said that the required food items have already been transported from Dhangadhi to Achham. "There was no food crisis in Achham last year either. This year too, there is no problem with food grains in the rainy season as rice has been delivered on time," he said.

Only 370 quintals of rice has been transported to Chainpur of Bajhang. Dhangadhi claims that there is no transportation due to low sales of edible rice. Five hundred quintals have been transported to Biswana in Bajhang. In Talkot, rice has not been transported as there is no sale.

On the other hand, more than 2,700 quintals of rice has been shipped to Khandeshwari of Darchula, 140 quintals for Paribgar, 1,000 quintals for Sunsera, 972 quintals for Rapla and 700 quintals for Chhangru.

There is no transportation in Melauli, Baitadi. A total of 1,826 quintals of rice has been transported to Kulau while 1,000 quintals of quota rice has not been transported to Kamal Bazaar and Binayak of Achham due to lack of tender.

Jagat Bahadur Kunwar, information officer of Food Management and Trading Company Dhangadhi, said that rice is being transported as per the quota set for the current fiscal year. "Food grains have already been shipped to most of the food crisis areas and are being shipped to some places," he said.

However, the contractor company has not picked up the rice in most of the areas saying that it will not be sold as the food subsidy is more expensive than the rice of the traders.