KATHMANDU: South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation (SAARC) is planning to double the storage of food in its food bank with the aim of tackling the possible food crisis in the region.

The SAARC food Bank, which was established a few months ago, now has 243,000 metric tonnes of food in store.

Ganesh Dhakal, a member of SAARC food Bank Board, said that an upcoming meeting of agriculture ministers of SAARC countries would take a final decision about doubling the storage of food.

The decision is likely to be endorsed ahead of the 16th SAARC summit slated in Bhutan from April 28-29, he said, adding that the impending food crisis in the region has prompted them to take such a decision.

How much each country would contribute to the SAARC Food Bank has already been fixed, he said. According to him, India will contribute the largest with 63.42 per cent, followed by Bangladesh and Pakistan each contributing 16.58 percentages. Likewise, Sri Lanka and Nepal will each contribute 1.66 per cent each, Maldives 0.08 per cent and Bhutan 0.07 percent. Afghanistan’s contribution is fixed at 1,420 metric tonnes.

The idea of a SAARC Food Security Reserve was first conceived way back in 1987 but that failed.

Meanwhile, the government officials have ruled out the possibility of ‘dire food crisis’ due to low production and drought.

“There is no need to getting into panic about food crisis in Nepal,” Ganesh Dhakal, spokesperson for the Ministry of Commerce and Supplies, assured. “If and when such a situation comes, Nepal could immediately get the supply from the SAARC Food Bank.” Similarly, Dr Hari Dahal, spokesperson at Ministry of Agriculture and Cooperatives, said,” This winter we had good harvest.”

He also informed that India has assured of food aid to Nepal if there would be a crisis. The World Food Program (WFP) has predicted that Nepal would face acute food crisis in Nepal.