Launch of Food Security Information System for Nepal

Date 3 Nov 2017
Venue Hotel Himalaya, Kathmandu
Contact Persons Faisal Mueen Qamer
Type Product Launch
Programmes MENRIS

The Government of Nepal has given high importance to ensuring food security for all its citizens, and recognizes food sovereignty as a basic human right. The core elements of food security are availability, access and utilization. Regular tracking of these indicators helps devise appropriate strategies and policies to eradicate hunger. Lack of adequate information on food security indicators hinders the design and implementation of effective management plans.

The United Nations World Food Programme (WFP) Nepal works with the Government of Nepal to monitor food security and sustainability across spatial scales. Current data collection and dissemination lacks a unified window to observe overall indicators of food security over the short and long terms.

Recognizing the effectiveness of a single information access platform, ICIMOD in collaboration with WFP Nepal, and the Monitoring, Analysis and Statistics Division of Nepal’s Ministry of Agriculture and Livestock Development, has developed a food security information system for Nepal, to compile, analyse and disseminate comprehensive information on food security in Nepal.

The food security information system, a one-stop gateway, will provide information on multiple food security indicators at district and sub-district levels.

At the launch event, the team will demonstrate how MoAD officials can use the interactive mapping platform to view and generate information by districts and sub-districts. The team will also roll out a system orientation package for government officials at the national and sub-national levels.

The online system has been developed under the SERVIR Hindu Kush Himalaya (SERVIR-HKH) initiative at ICIMOD, supported by the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) and the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA). UK aid funding from the UK government has remained critical for backstopping the capacity of Nepal Food Security Monitoring system (NeKSAP).