Nepal is emerging as the country with one of the most serious food crises in Asia, according to the UN's Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO). According to FAO's latest global food insecurity survey, South Asia, with 303 million of the 497.1 million hungry people in Asia and the Pacific, is the main hunger hotspot. And Nepal is the hottest spot in South Asia.

It is the only country in South Asia where the number of hungry people increased in the past decade--up from 3.5 million to 5 million and the proportion of Nepalis who are chronically hungry has increased from 19 to 23 percent. An average Nepali had a per capita intake of 2,380 kcal/day in 1990, and by 1999 it had gone down to 2,290 kcal. "Poverty and slow growth in food productivity, which is currently lagging behind the national population growth rate, are the main reasons for the increase in hunger in Nepal," says the FAO report.