Status and drivers of food insecurity and adaptation responses under a changing climate among smallholder farmers households in Bagmati Province, Nepal

Abstract

Like other low-income countries in Asia and Africa, Nepal still suffers from food insecurity with a large proportion of food-insecure households being smallholder farmers who rely on rain-fed agriculture for their livelihood. Contributing factors include a lack of production, lack of resources, access to land and market, climate change, extreme events and underlying poverty. In this study, we aimed to examine the prevalence, cause of and response to food insecurity and assess how food security varies with respect to the regional variation. We also explored the role of changing climatic conditions in creating such adversities. Based on an analysis of the results from interviewing 384 farm households from three agro-ecological zones in Bagmati Province, we found that 56% of the farm households experienced food insecurity. The severity varied amongst the households with resource-poor, disadvantaged groups and those with limited land and income suffering the most severely from food insecurity. Households in the Mountains and the Hills zones were more food insecure than in the Terai zone. Climate change impacts were found to have amplified the risks of food insecurity amongst these rural households surviving under a largely subsistence agrarian economy. The results further suggest that the adaptive capacities of smallholder households can be increased by improving agricultural productivity through providing skills and training, better access to markets, extension services, credit and insurance schemes, along with access to climate-smart technologies, micro-irrigation, improved infrastructure, and storage facilities. Support from relevant governmental and non-governmental organizations is needed to help smallholder households, and their communities better manage the risks to their food security.