Nepal bans grain export amid food price surge: official
KATHMANDU (AFP) — Nepal has banned the export of grains to try and avert a food crisis as prices soar, an official in the impoverished Himalayan nation said Thursday.
"There is a high possibility of food crisis in a poor country like ours where domestic production is not enough," Hari Dahal, a spokesman at the ministry of agriculture, told AFP.
"The ban will help us in stockpiling food items for ourselves," he said.
In recent weeks, the price of rice in the local market has risen by more than 35 percent to 1,500 rupees (23 dollars) per 30-kilogram (66-pound) bag, up from 1,100 rupees, Dahal said.
"The rise in the price of petroleum products in the international market and the reduction in agricultural production worldwide means food insecurity has increased, triggering this price hike," he said.
Some 31 percent of Nepal's 27 million people live on less than a dollar a day, so the price rises are likely to hit the poorest the hardest, he said.
The price of staples such as rice and wheat has soared globally since last year as food demand grows in emerging markets and more farmland is earmarked for biofuels, with drought and natural disasters adding to the supply problem.
Nepal has no accurate figures about agricultural imports or exports, but officials say the country exports some grains to Tibet, India and Bangladesh.
The country is sandwiched between India and China, and also imports items like rice from both.
The Himalayan nation produced 7.9 million metric tonnes of cereals in the last fiscal year, including rice, maize, wheat, barley and millet, out of which 5.1 million tonnes were for human consumption, Dahal said.
"We need around the same amount this year but we are already facing 17,000-metric-ton food deficit because of rapid population growth, low agricultural production and because of floods and drought," Dahal said
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