NEPAL: FAO failure of subsidized seeds affects 1463 agricultural families causing food insecurity in hill regions 

Dear friends,

The Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) has received information from the Food First Information and Action Network Nepal (FIAN Nepal) that the farmers failed to cultivate the seed subsidized by the UN Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) in two hill districts Baitadi and Doti, causing increase of food insecurity. This failure is not the first time and there have been two previous failures this year. 1463 agricultural households were affected whereas the government as well as the FAO has not taken substantial action for compensation. It is alleged that FAO Nepal office distributed the inappropriate seeds for hill area instead of the one the government recommended. However, the government authority has failed to monitor the seed distribution and cultivation. The District Agriculture Department Office is conducting an investigation into the matter and the FAO has acknowledged its responsibility but no steps for compensation for the affected farmers has been taken so far.

CASE NARRATIVE:

 

In hill districts, the small scaled-farmers possessing less than 0.3 hectares agricultural land have received the seed support subsidized by European Union Food Facility Fund and the UN Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) this year. They are the poorest among the farmers living in Baitadi and Doti districts, who manage food merely by migrating twice a year during off-season; from November to June and from late July to October. They cultivate crops from small land, from which they get little food.

As these farmers find it difficult to manage food for three to six months a year, the government with the support of the FAO and local NGO provides them with the subsidized seed in order to increase the agricultural product from their land. The farmers also believed that the subsidized seeds produce output twice more than the one from local seeds that the farmers used before. However, the failure of seed distribution in time and wrongly adopted seed by the FAO resulted in increasing food insecurity of the poor farmers who could not harvest any crop this year. In addition, it is discovered that the seeds were allegedly distributed more than 10 kilograms earmarked to those who were the relatives of the relevant officers or to those who were not entitled for seed support.

 

The FAO Nepal office distributed 89 metric tons of paddy seeds to 4633 households of 12 villages in Doti district and 68 metric tons to 6895 households of 36 villages in Batadi district in June 2010. Each household received 10 kilograms of seeds. After the media report on harvest failure in these districts on October 24, the District Agriculture Development Office (DADO) as well as the FAO started conducting an investigation. Till today, 363 households In Doti and 1100 in Baitadi were reportedly affected and more households would be expectedly discovered.

Mr. Shiva Raj Panta (50) living in Patan village of Baitadi district harvested nothing from his land and currently has nothing to eat at home. Before planting rice-seed, he used maize seed subsidized by the FAO which also led to failure. He has observed that some farmers who are allegedly relatives of the officers of the FAO or the German Technical Cooperation (GTZ) who was the partner agency for the seed support programme received 40 kilograms of seeds and those who were not entitled to receive the subsidy got the seed. They allegedly ate the seed as food instead of seeding. Another farmer, Mr. Mahadev Panta (55) testified that received 30 kilograms of rice-seed, which was more than the earmarked. Panta also testified that if we used our local seed, we could have harvested 700 kilograms of rice at the minimum level. However, he harvested nothing from his land this year.

At present, to manage their daily food, farmers try to take a loan from their neighbors or relatives but fail to get it as the festival has been just over. Despite this hazardous situation, the government has not yet taken any substantial step to secure their food security. Both of the FAO office and the DADO have been doing an investigation to identify the affected farmers since late October.

In February 2010, the consultation meeting was held among the DADO, District Project Coordination Committee (DDPC), and the FAO Nepal office. The DADO then recommended two varieties – Khumal 3 and 4 – out of four they listed for hill area. However, the DADO put Sabtri variety as a forth priority variety in the list, which is not even cultivable in hill region and in some reason, the FAO Nepal distributed Sabtri in Baidati district instead of Khumal 3 or 4 recommended by the DADO to the farmers. Sabtri requires about 140 days to be matured with more water as well as high temperature, which is not suitable for hill region but for plain region. In Doti District, the Radha-4 variety was distributed regardless the land level. It was cultivated in low land area but not in high land area.

In addition, the seeds were not distributed in time. According to the agricultural season, May is the best time to plant rice-seeds and thus the farmers can harvest the crop four months later in hill region. Due to strike in May, the seeds distribution was delayed until 1st week of June.

 

After one meeting regarding seeds support between Ministry of Agriculture and FAO Nepal office in December 2009, the DADO at district level was given the authority to take responsibility for the seeds distribution and monitoring the process. When the (GTZ) informed the DADO of seeds distribution, the DADO did not make an inquiry about the variety for distribution and the GTZ did not inform about it either. These facts prove that the local authority failed to implement the support programme properly and monitor the process in overall, which allowed the failure of harvest resulting in increasing of food insecurity of the poorest farmers in hill regions.

After the media report, on December 3, the human rights groups including FIAN Nepal and the National Network on Right to Food submitted a memorandum to the FAO Nepal office calling for the responsibility and the guarantee of right to food of the marginalized farmers in these districts. Although the FAO Nepal office acknowledged their responsibility for this matter, no step for the compensation or relief for the affected farmers has been taken yet. The Government of Nepal who has an actual duty bearer to respect and fulfill of right to food as a state party of the International Covenant on Economic, Social, and Cultural Rights (ICESCR) has not taken any step for the immediate compensation and the long term policy. On the other hand, farmers may have to migrate to India seeking job with hunger stomach.

Food insecurity and child malnutrition in Baitadi and Doti districts:

 

Baitadi and Doti districts are located in the far western region of Nepal known as food deficit areas. According to the report of Central Bureau Statistics published in 2008-9, Baitadi district had food deficiency of 30,086 metric tons. According to the Nepal Nutrition and Food Security Bulletin, Helen Keller International, Nepal, 2010, in Baitadi district, prevalence of stunting, wasting, underweight and anemia among children were 61.7%, 45.7%, 10.4% and 29.6% respectively. Children from food insecure households were 51% more likely to be stunted compared to children from food secure households and mothers from food insecure. Households were 78 % more likely to be anemic compared to mothers from food secure households.

On December 16 2009, the European Commission and Council adopted the regulation no. 1337/2008 to establish the food facility. With financial support of over million Euros, the FAO in partnership with World Food programme and the Government of Nepal decided to provide inputs, to boost the crop production and increase food security for vulnerable families in hill regions. The FAO targeted Baitadi and Doti District for seed distribution. The seeds were distributed with the help of the local NGO.

The FAO Nepal has been refused the seeds recommended by the government and adopted other seeds instead since 2009. The National Agriculture Research Council (NARC) recommended two varieties of wheat seeds – W1204 and Annapurna – for Baitadi district in December 2009. The FAO Nepal however, distributed Gautami seed to 32 villages in October 2010 instead. It is uncertain that the farmers can succeed in harvesting the wheat, and the farmers are concerned about failure as seed distribution of the FAO previously brought out maize crop failure in jarkot in September 2010 and rice failure at present.

Seed security is directly related to the food security of farmers and in these two districts located hill region, high quality of seeds and sufficient irrigation are neither available nor accessible for these small scale farmers. In addition, the FAO and government provided the farmers with the seeds without testing variety. Whereas farmers were in queue to take seed with the hope of boosting production even as local seed were available in their hands.

 

In Nepal, the National Agriculture Policy 2004 has clearly stated that special incentives will be provided to the marginalized farmers and agriculture labors who own less than a hectare of land with adequate irrigation facilities. The Seed Act Policy, 2045 (1988) aims to maintain convenience and economic interest of the general public by providing seed of high quality in a well-planned manner up on producing , testing and processing to improve crop production, Several acts including the planned variety protection and farmers rights act have been drafted but have not been acted. The seed control centre is also responsible to enforce the availability of quality seed by enforcing the quality control mechanism to the farmers. Nepal is a member of the WTO (sub-section) and the agreement on the application of sanitary and phytosunitary measures have been signed.

SUGGESTED ACTION:

 

Please join us in expressing your concern for the poor farmers facing failure of harvest due to negligence of the government authorities and the FAO Nepal.

The AHRC has also written a separate letter calling for the intervention of the UN Special Rapporteurs on the Right to adequate food.

 

 

 

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