Standard Project Report 2016
Development in Nepal is highly vulnerable to disasters, climate change, economic failures, political instability, financial crises, and global shocks. With its geophysical location on top of the Indo-European tectonic plate, Nepal is highly prone to strong seismic activity, as was tragically witnessed in April and May 2015 when large earthquakes and aftershocks killed nearly 9,000 people, injured 22,000 and affected almost a third of the country ' s population. An additional three percent of the population was estimated to have been pushed into poverty as a direct result of the earthquakes. The Post-Disaster Needs Assessment led by the Government of Nepal estimated the overall damage at USD 5.15 billion across housing and infrastructure, social and production sectors. Losses in personal income alone were estimated at USD 1.9 billion [ 7 ]. With such extensive needs in vital sectors, the country requires continued support to strengthen and maintain its social safety nets, particularly in nutrition and education.
Remittances from migrant workers( mainly from the Middle East and India) constitute around 30 percent of Nepal ' s gross domestic product( GDP), and they have been the mainstay of the country ' s economy for the past few decades. The role of remittances as a vital coping strategy became evident as remittance inflows rose dramatically after the earthquakes of 2015 and the subsequent five-month long trade blockade that severely affected the country [ 8 ]. Cross-border trade with India was disrupted from September 2015 to February 2016 during a five-month period of civil unrest that prevailed in opposition to the new Constitution. As Nepal relies predominantly on imports from India, the border crisis significantly reduced the availability of fuel, consumer and industrial items in the country and drastically increased market prices of essential goods during the period.
Since 1992, Nepal has been hosting over 100,000 refugees( of Nepali origin) that arrived from Bhutan. They have been accommodated in camps situated in eastern Nepal and are considered foreigners. Hence, they cannot own land or gain legal employment outside the camps. The Government has since been supporting this population with food, health care and other humanitarian assistance with the support of WFP, the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees( UNHCR), and other agencies. While the refugee population initially numbered 107,810, a successful third country resettlement programme, which started in 2008, has reduced the number of refugees still living in the two camps to 11,213 as of 2016. It is projected that by the end of 2017, 8,500 refugee will remain in Nepal who are either unwilling to resettle in a third country or as persons who are ineligible for resettlement.
The agriculture sector contributes 34 percent to Nepal ' s GDP [ 9 ]. About 68 percent of the population is engaged in this sector for livelihoods and subsistence; however, only 28 percent of Nepal ' s total land area is arable and the country suffers from frequent natural disasters and low agricultural productivity. Nepal slid back into a food deficit at the national level in 2016 after recording surpluses for the last five years, when the edible grain output in 2015 became 71,387 mt short of meeting the requirement of 5.34 million mt [ 10 ]. One of the multiple reasons for this was identified as the significant damage caused to crops and arable land during the magnitude 7.8 earthquake in 2015. The border crisis also limited the importation of fertilizers for agriculture, which— coupled with below average rainfall during the monsoon season and colder than average winters— has contributed to the country ' s food deficit of 2016. Other reasons include the further reduction of the already low production from predominantly small-holding farmlands, mainly due to the increasing shortage of labour for cultivation as more rural people leave Nepal for jobs abroad. The difficulties associated with cultivating on rugged topography, complex geographical structures and variability in terms of climate conditions also affect the annual food production. Cultivation is also mostly dependent on the annual monsoon rains as only 37 percent of the farmlands in the mountains, 41 percent in the hills and 69 percent in the lowlands have access to year-round irrigation facilities according to the Ministry of Agricultural Development. WFP ' s vulnerability analysis and mapping( VAM) unit and the national food security monitoring system( NeKSAP— Nepal Khadhya Surakshya Anugaman Pranali) recorded that the severe winter drought in the mid- and far-western region in 2015-2016, which occurred as a result of a failed monsoon season, led to a significant decrease in winter crop production.
Nepal has made good progress in the education sector during the past two decades, with the national education policy framework being further strengthened by the School Sector Development Plan 2016-2023 approved in October 2016, which focuses on integrating quality education with access and equity. Primary education( grades 1 to 10) has been universal and free of charge since 2000. The national literacy rate has increased to 65.9 percent( 75.1 percent for males and 57.4 percent for females) [ 11 ] and net enrollment rates in primary education has reached 96.2 percent [ 12 ]. However, the existing high malnutrition rates would seem to indicate that the increase in education and literacy levels has not successfully contributed to generating wider knowledge about food choices and consumption patterns and has not affected significant behaviour changes that would contribute to reducing malnutrition.
References: [ 1 ] 2011 National Census, Central Bureau of Statistics, 2012, Government of Nepal. [ 2 ] 2015 Human Development Report( HDR) Work for Human Development. [ 3 ] Measured as the percentage of the population that lives on less than USD 1.25 per day.
Nepal, State of( NP) 4 Country Programme- 200319