Table 2.

Food and livelihood security in our study sites in Nepal.

Food Access and Security
Impacts		Households and Community Level Responses	Institutional Level Response
Insufficient food stock in the household. Increase pressure on food stock due to influx of migrants returning home. Lack of transportation to buy food. Increased market price of food. Decreased food supply in the market. Scarcity of cooking gas.		Stockpiling non-perishable food. Foraging Increased reliance on kitchen garden and farm. Purchasing produce from neighbors’ farm. Limiting expenditure on food. Switching to cheaper and more nutritious substitutes. Increased reliance on fuelwood. Increased preference for biogas. Traditional recipes that require all locally available ingredients revived.	Creation of list of vulnerable families for planned distribution of relief material. Distribution of food packages to daily wage workers. Political and other state actors’ contribution of cash and distribution of relief material to vulnerable households.
Livelihood Security
Farm-based livelihoods	Lack of access to agricultural inputs. High transportation cost due to reduced transport options. Lack of transportation to carry harvest to the market. Lack of access to livestock feed due to disruptions in transport.	Using local seeds Borrowing/buying from neighbors. Use of bio-pesticides. Using personal connections to transport farm produce to market for sale. Personally carrying the harvest and walking long distances to sell in the market. Share/buying agricultural inputs from families and friends. Selling produce to traders at a low price. Grazing livestock in common lands. Feed food grain from household stock to feed livestock.	Distribution of subsidized seeds by palika. Cooperatives collecting farm produce and selling in market. Distribution of agriculture inputs. Agriculture knowledge center provided technical help to farmers. Palika officers personally visited farmers with technical experts to provide help.
Non-farm based livelihoods	Loss of jobs of wage laborers. Loss of income in dairy sale.	Working in the farms of others. Household consumption, preserving dairy in the form of butter, selling to neighbors.	Palikas prepared list of people who lost their jobs and employed them in construction work. Dairy cooperatives mobilized to demand smoother operation of diary vans.