Imagine a Nepal where a sudden monsoon landslide or a dry winter dry-spell no longer means an empty plate at dinner. That is the future Riaz Lodhi, the United NationsWorld Food Programme (WFP) Representative and Country Director for Nepal, is working to build. We sat down with him to discuss how we can turn our fields, schools, and local markets into climate-resilient powerhouses. In this warm and insightful chat with Gopikrishna Dhungana and Shekhar Adhikari, Lodhi shares a hopeful, practical vision of a well-nourished Nepal, where local farmers thrive, traditional crops shine, and every child has access to a healthy diet. Climate change increasingly affects Nepal through floods, droughts, landslides, and agriculture productivity due to changing weather patterns. WFP, a specialized UN agency, which works to build community resilience and safeguard nutrition security, stands at the center of these shifting dynamics.

Let us begin with the most pressing environmental challenge. Climate change increasingly affects Nepal through floods, droughts, landslides, and changing weather patterns. How is WFP adapting its programmes to help communities build resilience while ensuring food and nutrition security?

Climate change is no longer a future threat; it is a reality that is already affecting when people plant, what they harvest, the availability of water and their ability to access markets. Considering the facts, WFP is moving beyond simply responding after a disaster hits. Our emergency response starts long before a crisis occurs, beginning with effective preparedness. We work alongside the Government of Nepal and local communities across the entire risk cycle. This means we support anticipating shocks, protect hard-earned development gains when crises occur, and help households recover in ways that make them stronger against the next shock. Practically, we strengthen early warning and anticipatory-action systems, support climate-informed planning, and improve emergency logistics.

At the community level, we promote climate-resilient livelihoods, diversified production, improved water management, soil conservation, and physical assets that buffer against floods, droughts, and landslides. Through all of this, nutrition must remain central. A family might consume enough calories but still lack the diverse nutrients needed for a healthy life. That is why WFP connects climate-resilient agriculture with nutrition education, home nutrition gardens, food fortification, school meals, and social protection. Our ultimate goal is not just to help people survive the next emergency, but to prevent climate shocks from turning into food and nutrition crises in the first place.

Nepal has made progress in reducing undernutrition, but micronutrient deficiencies and the rising burden of overweight and obesity remain concerns. How can the country’s food system transform to deliver healthier diets for everyone?

Nepal faces a complex, double-edged nutrition challenge. Undernutrition and micronutrient deficiencies persist, while overweight, and diet-related non-communicable diseases are also a reality. The health sector cannot solve this alone. The entire food system must work together to make healthy food available, affordable, desirable, and convenient.

First, agricultural policies should support the production of diverse, nutrient-rich foods—not just staple grains, but also pulses, vegetables, fruits, dairy, eggs, and other local foods. Second, we can expand food fortification backed by strong quality assurance. Third, we need to design social protection programmes, especially school meals and support for vulnerable families, around the nutritional quality of diets rather than just calorie counts.

Consumer behavior is the final piece of the puzzle. We need clearer nutrition labelling, better nutrition education, and responsible marketing, especially for children. Finally, healthy diets must not become a privilege available only to higher-income households. Success means that nutritious choices are affordable and accessible in remote mountain communities as well as in rapidly growing urban areas

Food systems account for a significant share of greenhouse gas emissions while also being highly vulnerable to climate change. What role should Nepal’s food sectors play in achieving both climate and nutrition goals?

We should view Nepal’s food sectors as a core part of the climate solution, rather than just victims of climate change. The country can pursue three goals at once: reducing emissions, strengthening resilience, and improving nutrition. This starts by encouraging farming practices that restore soil health, use water efficiently, reduce chemical inputs, and protect local forests and biodiversity. We also need to focus on reducing post-harvest losses, improving storage and processing, and shortening supply chains wherever it makes economic sense.

Nepal has a rich heritage of climate-adapted, highly nutritious crops like millet, buckwheat, pulses, and other indigenous varieties. Championing these foods, alongside fruits and vegetables, improves dietary diversity, builds natural resilience, and opens up new economic opportunities for local farmers. Of course, production is only half the battle. Farmers need reliable markets, active extension services, timely climate information, finance, insurance, and appropriate technology. Public procurement, such as sourcing local foods for school meals, can provide a predictable, encouraging demand for these locally grown foods.

Many rural communities face declining agricultural productivity due to climate variability. What innovative approaches is WFP promoting to strengthen livelihoods and make local food systems more resilient?

For WFP, innovation is not just about high-tech gadgets; it is about finding better ways to connect climate information, local knowledge, finance, markets, and nutrition. One of our primary approaches is providing farmers with timely climate and weather forecasts so they can make smart, informed decisions about when to plant, harvest, or manage their farming. We also support communities in creating and restoring climate-resilient assets, such as water-harvesting systems, irrigation channels, and improved linkages to local markets.

Additionally, WFP helps connect smallholder farmers directly to structured markets, particularly school meals. Having a guaranteed buyer reduces a farmer's market risk and encourages them to invest in better production. A great example of this is our Farmer Nutrition Schools, which beautifully combine agricultural training, nutrition awareness, and the household production of diverse, healthy foods.

Nepal is increasingly experiencing both humanitarian emergencies and long-term development challenges. How does WFP balance emergency food assistance with investments that build sustainable and climate-resilient food systems?

For WFP, emergency response and long-term development are not competing priorities. They are parts of the same resilience continuum. Before a disaster strikes, WFP invests in early warning systems, anticipatory actions, emergency preparedness, shock-responsive social protection, and stronger logistics. These investments allow help to reach people faster and cheaper when crises hit.

During an emergency, our immediate responsibility is to protect lives and ensure affected families can meet their basic food and nutrition needs. But how we deliver that assistance matters. Where local markets are still functioning, using cash transfers supports the local economy. Our recovery activities help restore irrigation, roads, and agricultural land in ways that reduce future disaster risks. Meanwhile, our targeted nutrition services protect children and mothers from malnutrition. This "humanitarian-development nexus" is the foundation of WFP Nepal’s strategic framework. We address immediate hunger while simultaneously building the climate-resilient food systems of tomorrow.

The global food crisis has highlighted the importance of reducing dependence on imported food. What opportunities do you see for Nepal to strengthen domestic food production while ensuring nutritious diets remain affordable?

Nepal has incredible opportunities to boost domestic production. However, self-reliance does not mean trying to produce absolutely everything domestically at any cost. Instead, the goal should be a healthy balance: increasing the production of foods Nepal can grow competitively and sustainably, maintaining trade balance where it improves food availability and affordability, and avoiding over-reliance on imports.

There is strong potential to increase production of nutrient-rich indigenous foods such as millets, sorghum which have huge export potential as well. Reducing post-harvest losses is just as important as increasing what we grow. Smallholder farmers must also have access to stable markets. Public procurement for school meals can create this stability, while cooperatives and digital market information give farmers better bargaining power. Ultimately, affordability is the true test. Domestic production policies must benefit consumers as much as they do producers. Targeted social protection, highly efficient supply chains, and healthy market competition are essential to ensure nutritious diets stay within reach of low-income families.

Public-private partnerships are becoming increasingly important in food systems. How can governments, development partners, and the private sector work together to improve food quality, food fortification, and climate resilience without compromising affordability?

Every partner has a unique and vital strength. The government must set the public-policy direction: establishing clear nutrition and fortification standards, enforcing food-safety regulations, protecting consumers, and creating stable incentives for responsible private investments. The private sector brings the actual production capacity, innovation, logistics, technology, and market reach. Development partners provide technical assistance, help absorb early-stage financial risks, generate evidence, and design solutions that serve vulnerable communities.

In food fortification, for example, partnership can help processors obtain appropriate equipment and technical expertise, while the government maintains strong standards, inspection and quality assurance. The same principle applies to climate resilience: blended finance and risk-sharing mechanisms can encourage investment in resilient storage, renewable energy, cold chains and climate-smart processing. That said, partnership should never mean weakening public oversight. Affordability must be built into the design.

As Nepal prepares to implement stronger food systems and nutrition policies, what are the key priorities policymakers should focus on over the next five years to address climate change, food security, and malnutrition together?

I see five interconnected priorities, along with evidence generation. First, Nepal needs stronger policy coherence. Agriculture, health, education, social protection, climate, and local development policies must work toward shared food-system goals instead of operating in isolated silos. Second, we must integrate climate risk directly into agricultural planning and public investments. This means prioritizing early warning services, resilient infrastructure, smart water management, and anticipatory action.

Third, nutritious diets should become the central measure of food security. Policies should further promote dietary diversity, food fortification, healthy school meals and better protection for mothers, young children and other nutritionally vulnerable groups. Fourth, Nepal should invest in local food economies. Smallholder farmers, particularly women, young people and marginalized communities, need technology, finance, extension, storage and reliable markets. Fifth, we must strengthen the country’s capacity under the federal system. Capacity strengthening of the local government is vital for the food system. 

Looking ahead, what is your vision for Nepal’s food system by 2030? What would success look like if the country effectively integrates climate action, sustainable agriculture, and nutrition into its development agenda?

My vision for 2030 is a food system that is deeply resilient, inclusive, and capable of nourishing every single person in Nepal. Success would mean that a flood, drought or global price shock no longer automatically pushes vulnerable families into hunger. Communities would have access to early warning, effective social protection and livelihood options that allow them to absorb shocks and recover quickly. 

Farmers would receive useful climate information, reliable water access, appropriate technology, finance and fair market opportunities. Young people would view agriculture and local food enterprises as viable, respected, and profitable careers. Children would receive safe, diverse and nutritious school meals, sourced from local producers. Fortified foods and nutrient-rich diets would be affordable throughout the country. 

WFP’s greatest achievement would not be the number of people directly assisted, but the strength of the systems Nepal has built and can sustain itself. By 2030, Nepal’s food system should nourish its people, protect its beautiful environment, fairly reward its farmers, and stand strong against a changing climate. That is the transformation we should collectively pursue.