Ram Bahadur Pariyar from Kaski district recently returned from Qatar after losing his job and plans to return to agriculture. “I will grow ginger and turmeric on my farm, they don’t go bad easily, and the market value is good,” he said.
The COVID-19 pandemic and ensuing global recession threaten the living standards, and especially food security, of Nepali families that are dependent on remittances from migration. Already, around 16 per cent of Nepal’s population is food insecure, and about 37 per cent of the children below five years suffer from chronic malnutrition. Can timely investments in agriculture support vulnerable households in Nepal?