Two dozen VDCs in western Jajarkot, including Kortang, Pajaru, Suwanauli, Majakot, Daha and Garkhakot, are reeling under a food shortage following low crop yield due to a prolonged dry spell of last year. And the fact that the Nepal Food Corporation, the state-owned food agency, has not supplied subsidised rice to the region for the past two years has only aggravated the food problem.

Dharma Bahadur Basnet, chief of the NFC office in Jajarkot, said they were unable to supply rice to Ghodi depot because the NFC Zonal Office in Nepalgunj did not approve the transportation fare quoted by contractor. 

The contractor had asked for Rs 1,221 per quintal of rice delivered to Ghodi depot, he added.

The NFC warehouse in Khalanga, the district headquarters, has around 2,000 qunitals of rice, but hundreds of families have been deprived access to it.

Bir Bahadur Basnet, a villager in one of the food-hit VDCs, told the Post that they were compelled to buy rice at exorbitant prices in the market because the NFC was no longer supplying subsidised rice to Ghodi depot. He said they were paying up to Rs 60 for one kilogram of Mota rice.