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Kalikot hit hard by severe food shortage

People in five VDC's of remote Palata region of far-western Kalikot district are facing acute food shortage.

As the farmers in the region largely depend on rainwater for crop production and sowing, the persistent drought since last year has made them unable to grow their crops resulting in a severe food shortage in the district, Kantipur Daily reports.

Around 35,000 people at Kin, Thirpu, Nanikot, Badalkot, Ramnakot and Dhaulagoha have been affected by the food shortage, making many of them go out to search for food in neighboring villages and district headquarters Manma.

The people of Palata region are not only hungry they are thirty too as there is also a shortage of drinking water in the region.

"We don't even have enough drinking water in our village," Chanda Biswokarma, a local, told the daily. While Birkhabahadur Bam of Khin VDC said that their livestock are dying fast so they have started to sell whatever is remaining at very low price.

"The drought has made our lives hard," said Bishwokarma of Dhaulagoha-3,
who has been feeding his family with rice bought from neighboring villages. "Now we have no money, no work and no food all at the same time," he said.

Ganga Bahadur Buda of Khin-1 said, "I had to pawn my jewelry and sell most
of my kitchen utensils just to buy rice. Now I have nothing."

People in Palata want the district development committee to make air drops to supply foodstuff as an immediate solution and have also demanded construction of an irrigation system so that they no longer have to depend only on rainwater for growing crops.

Meanwhile, district chief of Nepal Food Corporation (NFC), Shanker Sapkota, told the daily that repeated calls to the central office for additional supplies of food stuff went unheard.

People in Palata region not only face acute food shortage, but are also forced to drink polluted water. Due to this many people in the region die of diarrhea, cold and other diseases every year. Last year only more than 100 people died in the region due to cholera, diarrhea and cold related diseases. nepalnews.com ag May 13 08