Kathmandu, April 19:

An international fact-finding mission on right to food today said that hunger and food insecurity “is pervasive across the country”.

Preliminary findings of the international mission suggested that food insecurity is pervasive in both food surplus and food deficit districts and is affecting primarily women and children, members of the indigenous nationalities, Dalits, Kamaiyas, Haliyas, and people living with HIV/AIDS, among others.

“Endemic discrimination, social exclusion, insufficient and insecure access to land and other productive resources, landlessness and evictions, discriminatory access to traditional resources such as forests and fishing areas have been identified as the major reasons for food insecurity,” the mission said at a press meet today.

“Even international donors and agencies are focussing mainly on political process,” the report said adding that these agencies active in Nepal do not apply human rights framework nor do they emphasise the right to food in their programmes.

The realisation of the right to food is key to reconciliation and peace,” it added.

The mission, which arrived in Kathmandu on April 8 also said even the government has no comprehensive strategy to address hunger and the situation is exacerbated by a lack of coordination between the authorities in the capital, regions and districts as well as between government ministries and their agencies.

Many hill districts, mostly in the mid and far western region, face food shortage every year.