Food insecurity and vulnerability in Nepal: Profiles of seven vulnerable groups

This report documents the main findings of vulnerable group profiling work in Nepal. It identifies the characteristics and investigates the vulnerability for seven particular livelihood groups, notably marginal farm households in the Terai, in the hills and in the mountains, agricultural labour households in the Terai, porters in the hills and mountains, rural service castes, and poor urban workers in the informal economy in the Kathmandu Valley. Based on this analysis, it considers how these people cope during times of insufficient food production and/or earnings, and proposes actions that could be taken to reduce their vulnerability to becoming food insecure in the future. Most of the research on poverty in Nepal during the past decades has focused exclusively on determining the poverty line and calculating the proportion of people living under this line, rather than unmasking the characteristics, particularly the locational aspects, of poverty other than the rural and urban distribution (Sadeque, 1998). This report therefore contributes to new knowledge by identifying and characterising particular vulnerable groups of people in broad geographic areas based on their livelihoods. The knowledge and insights gained through this process is intended to complement existing assessments at the household/community and national level, and to help bridge the gap between local knowledge and national level decision-making. It is hoped that this study will draw attention to the need for greater policy and programme support to food security in Nepal. In this context, the findings could inform the design of a food security policy (as recommended in the UN progress report on implementation of the Millennium Development Goals in Nepal), as well as the development and strengthening of other policies and programmes that reduce vulnerability and increase food security for a larger share of the population in the country. In particular, it could be useful in supporting implementation of the Government’s recently formulated Poverty Reduction Strategy Paper (PRSP) which received cabinet endorsement in May 2003.