Rome: Minister for Foreign Affairs Dr. Arzu Rana Deuba has reiterated Nepal’s commitment to ensuring its citizens’ right to food, emphasizing constitutional provisions that guarantee this fundamental right. Dr. Rana addressed the session on ‘nutrition and development in vulnerable states’ during the Ministerial Special Session of the Forty-Fourth Session of the Food and Agriculture Organisation, themed ‘From Vulnerability to Resilience-Strengthening Food Security and Better Life in Small Island Developing States, Least Developed Countries and Landlocked Developing Countries’ held in Rome.
According to National News Agency Nepal, Foreign Minister Rana stated that Nepal has recognized the right to food as a fundamental right, and the laws on the right to food and food sovereignty provide a legal basis for its implementation. Additionally, the implementation of the Food Systems Transformation Strategic Plan 2022-2030 further supports ensuring the right to food. Recent legislative developments in Nepal, including the Food Safety and Quality Act (2024) and the Food Safety and Quality Control Policy, aim to ensure safe and quality food through regulatory standards, lab surveillance, and consumer protection.
Minister Rana highlighted that a separate consumer court was established to protect consumers’ rights, maintaining trust in the local food system and supporting citizens’ health and their natural right to healthy food. She also noted significant progress in child health and nutrition over the past two decades, with declines in child stunting, underweight, and wasting rates, reflecting strong political commitment, community engagement, and cross-sectoral coordination.
Dr. Rana emphasized the importance of initiatives like vitamin ‘A’ supplementation and the Golden 1000 Days Programme, which have reached millions of children across Nepal, contributing to the reduction of child mortality and undernutrition. Awareness campaigns and school curriculum-based nutrition education are being scaled up to promote healthy eating habits and shift food preferences toward fresh, local produce.
The Minister called for the development of access to AI, digital agriculture platforms, and modern science and technology in agriculture and nutrition. She identified climate change as a serious threat to Nepal’s agricultural production, citing challenges such as melting glaciers, irregular rainfall, extreme weather events, and climate-related disasters. Dr. Rana underscored the need for increased international cooperation, financial resources, technology transfer, and knowledge sharing to involve citizens in the common journey of nutrition and prosperity.
In her address, Dr. Rana noted national strategies such as the National Nutrition Policy (2020), Food-Based Dietary Guidelines, and Multi-Sector Nutrition Plan II, which integrate food-based interventions into health, education, and agriculture. She also pointed out challenges like youth migration, depleting the rural workforce, and human-wildlife conflict posing threats to livelihoods and food security. Dr. Rana called for targeted investment, technical assistance, modernization of agricultural systems, and access to advanced technologies like AI to protect and promote Nepal’s rich agro-biodiversity, traditional knowledge, and high-altitude crops.