Some key findings:
- Food insecurity across the country has decreased compared to estimates taken in April and August 2020, however remains higher than 4 years ago. The mVAM survey found that 16.8 percent of households had inadequate food consumption. 7.4 percent of households adopted negative livelihood coping strategy to address food shortages and about 2.7 percent of households reported that the food they had in stock was insufficient to meet their needs.
- Proportion of children between 6-23 months of age that did not meet the minimum recommended dietary diversity remained relatively same in December 2020 ( 42.7 %) as in August (43.1%), and declined slightly compared to April 2020 (45.9%).
- The COVID-19 crisis has affected the livelihoods of Nepalese households, with 5 percent of households reporting a loss of livelihood and 21 percent a reduction in income.
- More than 3 out of 4 respondents reported to have food stocks, of which nearly 50 percent had more than one-month worth of food stock. About 62 percent of households acquire food through market purchase.
- Loss of income source was found to be more common for certain types of livelihoods, namely daily wage labourers, tourism sector, households receiving remittances and large and medium businesses and trade, and households with a disabled person.
- Food insecurity was more prevalent among household that experienced income reduction and job loss and certain livelihood types. Similarly, households with low education levels, a chronically ill member, female-headed households, and households living in rural areas were found to be more food insecure.