Assessment of Food Insecurity Situation and Coping Strategy: A Case of Thami People in Sundrawati VDC 09, Dolakha

Abstract

Food insecurity is the major problem of developing country like Nepal. So, this study was undertaken to identify the situation of food security and insecurity situation of a Thami community of Sundrawati VDC 09 of Dolakha district. The general objective of the study is to assess the food insecurity situation and coping strategies of Thami community and the specific objectives are: to assess the current socio-economic status of Thami people; to analyzed the causes; and situation of food crisis; to analyze the reasons and impacts of food crisis; and finally to examined the coping strategies followed by them. The study is both descriptive and analytical in its design and nature. Data are both qualitative and quantitative; the sources of data are both primary and secondary. The universe of the study is 171 households for which 98 households were sampled for the study by simple random sampling procedure. Direct field observation was done by developing the observation checklist; and household survey was conducted by developing questionnaire. FGD and KII were also conducted with the help of preparing guidelines. All the collected data are analyzed by using computer software, Ms-excel, Ms-word and SPSS and presented by tables. The analysis is guided by qualitative and quantitative techniques.The research tries to explore the socio-economic conditions of the Thami people that give rise to the problem of food insecurity in the locality. After analyzing the various conditions of the household, the research tries to explicate the reasons and causes behind the existing problem, for example, mostly the structure of the family was joint family. The explanation of the causes leads to seek and analyze the possible impacts caused by the food insecurity. The research highlights the major impacts found due to the situation of food insecurity. The food security condition of Thami people was very weak. It has made them weak in different areas, for example in terms of family solidarity; most of them are indebted. However, they have tried hard to continue their lives. They are found to have adopted survival strategies while dealing with the food insecurity problem. For example they take loan from relatives, neighbors and friends; eat less and less frequently as a coping strategy. The Thami people are economically poor; they do not have enough fertile land, they basically depend up on labour wages at farm construction. The research finally suggests to resolve the existing problem of food insecurity in Thami community, for example , training based agriculture should be focused; infertile land needs to be converted into fertile; education among the household should be encourage etc. The research calls for an immediate response from the government and other concerned bodies to address the current problem of food insecurity in Thamis community.