EDITORIAL: Hard hit
Despite this, till such a network is ready, it becomes the duty of the government to ensure that no people of the country, wherever they may live, face a famine situation
Several districts in the remote hills, particularly those in the Karnali zone, have faced food shortages almost every year, even famine situations. This kind of experience is repeated year in, year out but a solution has not been found yet. Supply of food grains and other edibles does not reach there in sufficient quantities in a regular way. Indeed, several hurdles stand in the way of reaching sufficient food items there in time to prevent starvation. A lack of roads linking those areas with the highways is a major cause of frequent acute food shortages there. But this is not the only cause. As it is not wise to depend on the private business people alone to supply food there, the government has taken upon itself the responsibility of ensuring adequate supply of food grains to those areas, and the state-owned Nepal Food Corporation (NFC) has been entrusted with this responsibility.
It is indeed a difficult job to ensure a perfect supply of the needed food items to the remote food-deficit areas because of poor transportation infrastructure and the difficult mountain topography which makes even the existing roads not so easy to use at all times of the year. But it is also true that things have improved significantly over the years as far as transportation is concerned, though the situation is still pretty difficult in many cases. Government officials know that they cannot reach food to those areas at all times of the year. Here, proper planning and its effective execution become things of the utmost importance. This is where a significant part of the problem lies. Two aspects therefore merit attention here. One, for permanent solutions of acute food shortages, the construction of a proper road network linking those deficit-areas should receive much more attention. Despite this, till such a network is ready, it becomes the duty of the government to ensure that no people of the country face a famine situation. But on this count, the government has failed to fulfil this duty well so far.
Timing of the action to send food grains to those areas is highly important. When the authorities failto do this when the time is suitable, they will be unable to do it when time becomes unsuitable because of change of season, changes in weather conditions, and the worse condition of the existing roads. From time to time, it also becomes necessary to flow in the supplies to those areas. Government and NFC’s boringly slow speed of work, the lack of urgency felt by the officials, and lack of fear of facing action for their failure to deliver in time are also responsible for the sorry state of affairs. When things become worse and those in authority have to explain, they have always tended to pass the buck, in the usual bureaucratic fashion. But hardly anybody ever gets punished for their part in inflicting starvation on the poor people of the remote hills. In this context, it is somewhat reassuring that Minister of Agricultural Development Haribol Gajurel has promised to send food to the deficit areas of the Karnali zone on time so that a famine situation may not arise. But performance is better than promise.
‘Vegetable steel’
After the major earthquakes last year, bamboo is increasingly being used to rebuild homes and schools. Bamboo is also called ‘vegetable steel’. Because it is light and flexible houses built with bamboos suffer less damage during earthquakes. Most of the damage is caused due to the use of heavier materials. Using bamboos to build houses is estimated to be 50 per cent cheaper than the use of other materials. Moreover, the government has permitted building houses by using bamboos as their use is feasible and the buildings are safe and convenient.
Nepal happens to have abundant bamboos and is home to 54 bamboo species in 63,000 hectaresof land. Bamboos grow to a height of 25 to 30 meters in a short span of six months. These could beharvested within a period of three to five years. Trees usually take 30 to 50 years to grow. Now with the use of advanced technology houses built with bamboos are stronger and quake resistant. Bamboo is considered to be ideal for constructing houses in mountainous terrain. Nepal being a quake prone country could benefit immensely through the use of this so-called ‘vegetable steel’.