Environmental factors are key in understanding the food security phenomenon in the Dhankuta district of Nepal

This poster elaborates on the grounded reality of environmental narratives while engaging with rural communities with the purpose of studying food security and aid intervention outcomes in the Dhankuta District of Nepal. In Nepal, approximately eighty percent of people live in rural areas and are involved in single household farming, utilising small to medium (0.95 ha in 1995) size farm lots. The food security concerns for these farming communities are exacerbated by entrenched poverty and a history of international development aid and as a developing nation has forged bilateral relationships with India and China in particular, and more developed nations. The role of external aid in the context of food security and rural livelihood is critical and requires better understanding. At present food security concerns have been addressed in other jurisdictions which generally focus on issues of increasing crop/farm yield through external inputs; specifically seeds, agrochemicals and national policies. Translation of food security concerns from earlier studies to the Nepali environment is not straightforward and requires contextualization.