The people of Humla are worried about food shortage as winter sets in in this Himalayan district.
Specially, the people of Limi, Namkha Rural Municipality-6 in northern belt of the district are more concerned as the Nepal-China border transit is closed this year.
Limi is the trans-Himalayan settlement and one has to cross high mountain passes to reach there, which is next to impossible during the winter.
The food grain grown by the locals of Limi is enough only for six months of the year and food shortage looks imminent due to the closure of the border transit. Before, the people used to bring food grains and foodstuff across the border from Taklakot, a town in the Tibet Autonomous Region of China.
Moreover, they used to earn from trade in Taklakot, but that is not the case this year. Girmet Tamang of Limi rued that they have not made any income from trade this year as the border transit was closed. He said the people of Limi, who had been managing food from the food grains brought from Taklakot for years, are dependent on the rice grain to be distributed by the Food Management and Trading Company Limited Branch Simkot this year.
It usually starts snowing in Limi from Mid-November and so the locals have started to collect food grains and supplies needed by them for the winter, said another local Pema Chhoki Tamang.
According to him, food shortage had hit Limi in October as the border checkpoint remained closed.
“It continuously snows for three months during the winter blocking the trails through the mountain passes. If enough food grain is not supplied to Limi to last for the next three or four months, then we will be facing acute food shortage,” he expressed his worry.
Food Management and Trading Company Limited Branch Simkot’s chief Ram Bahadur Bishta said 2,000 quintals food grain has been approved for supply to Limi and the contractor hired for transporting it was in the process of transporting it.
Bishta added that 300 quintals food grain was immediately supplied to Limi after complaints of food shortages there were received and the remaining food grain would be dispatched as soon as possible.
A meeting of the District Food Management Committee has asked for supplying 73 thousand quintals rice grains for the entire district but only 25 thousand 800 quintals has been approved for now. Similarly, only 10 thousand quintals rice grain has been approved for the district headquarters of Simkot out of the 17 thousand quintals demanded.
Bishta said the food depot in Simkot has 3,100 quintals of food grain in stock after distributing 4,050 quintals.
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