COVID19: An importance of being food self-sufficient

It has been around 3 months since the threat of COVID-19 started. Coronavirus has been a global pandemic and is continuously growing throughout the world. The impacts of the virus are not only felt by the poor countries but also by rich and powerful countries, they are not able to escape from its grasp. Some countries are experiencing a gradual decrease in the number of infected individuals while some countries are experiencing a surge. The only remedy is a vaccine, until its manufacture we are still at risk. To contain the situation, lockdown has been playing a considerable role. However, various resources are now becoming increasingly scarce with each passing day. The basic needs of a human have been compromised all over the world.

Nepal is also now facing the impacts of COVID-19 and an ongoing national lockdown from March 24th. People are enforced to stay at home unless they are buying food and medicine. Excluding the given exceptions, all other sectors are closed which has caused more strains in adequate availability and the supply of food. In the agriculture sector, the source of food is also highly disrupted. Unavailability of different agricultural inputs such as quality seeds, fertilizers, pesticides, equipments, and labor are main consequences which directly affect the food supply chain. So being self-sufficient is requisite of today’s environment. Food self-sufficiency is concerning with ensuring that the country can produce food in sufficient quantities to meet its domestic needs. Avoiding dependency and reliable supply assures the availability of healthy food. Absurdly relying on imports pushes the country towards food insecurity, which may counteract when assessing current border disputes and blockades.

Fear of the virus has strained people’s food purchases and preferences of local food over cheaper prices. Consumers are being concerned about chaos, some of them have started farming whereas some with limited land are trying to teach themselves about home gardening and others are oblivious to such rising concerns. Self-involvement in farming procures, healthy and quality food along with lessening the susceptibility of a virus. The economic impact of being food self-sufficient rather than importing is significant. It helps to circulate the amount of money in the different development sectors of Nepal, especially creating opportunities in the agriculture and industrial sector to enhance productivity and profitability. Agriculture provides employment opportunities formally and informally to 60-70% of Nepalese. Due to varied climatic conditions, diversified farming is possible along with many opportunities and challenges. It is also a substantial chance to encourage and mobilize the people who just moved back due to the virus from foreign countries to the agriculture sector in Nepal. In this way, many marginal and fallow lands can be utilized using different sustainable techniques for domestic production. This situation could be an opportunity for the farmers to reduce the involvement of a middle man by self engaging on sales of the product, which enrich the farmers’ lives and overall enthusiasm to devote in their field.

A country cannot be totally sovereign until it is sovereign in its food supplies. COVID-19 has drawn attention toward the importance of being food self-reliant. It has imposed us to look for change and to take proper actions. The irony is incidents of dumping the food products have been due to fear and also by the frustration of farmers being not able to sell their product. The government and responsible bodies should be focused on such cases and act according to the requirement.
When it rains, collect the water so instead of rambling about the problems, we should take this as an opportunity in disguise for boosting local supply instead of importing.