Jawahan Lama, from ward 3 of Shey Phoksundo Rural Municipality in Dolpa, says the barley his seven-member family produces lasts barely three months. With heavy snowfall and no irrigation, the village manages to harvest only one crop a year.

The neighbouring Saldang area hosts a depot of the Food Management and Trade Company Limited, but rice has yet to arrive, forcing locals to pay steep prices. “We mainly need rice during snowfall and Dashain,” Lama said. “At other times, the crops we grow remain in the granary.”

Palden Gurung of Saldang said Dashain often passes without enough food because of annual shortages. He added that while rice is sold at the depot for Rs58 per kilo, locals must buy it from the market at Rs100 per kilo. “Without rice from the depot, we have to take loans just to celebrate Dashain,” he said.

Three food distribution centres in Upper Dolpa are currently empty. Depots in Saldang of Shey Phoksundo, Dho of Dolpo-Buddha Rural Municipality, and Tinje of Chharka Tangsong Rural Municipality have run out of supplies due to delayed rice deliveries.

The food depots were allocated between 700 and 875 quintals of grain. With no deliveries arriving, locals are forced to rely on rice brought in by mule.

Gurung said rice, normally costing Rs2,500 for a 30-kg sack, now sells for Rs6,000. “We no longer depend on the depot; we rely on what traders bring at high prices,” he said.

Shey Phoksundo Rural Municipality chair Dhawa Samduk Gurung said last year’s quota has run out, and this year’s deliveries have not yet arrived.

“For five years, residents of Phoksundo have not received rice for Dashain and Tihar,” he said. Last year, deliveries to Upper Dolpa depots only began after mid-December.

Bishnu Ghimire, Dolpa branch chief of the Food Management and Trade Company Limited, said contracts for the current fiscal year were approved only a week ago, so no rice has been sent to Upper Dolpa. “Tenders come from the central office,” he said. “We only know when deliveries begin after the contract is finalised.”

He added that other depots have sufficient stocks: 1,400 quintals in Jufal, and up to 300 quintals in lower Dolpa depots at Mudkechula, Tripurasundari, and Kaigaun, with daily sales of 100 quintals from the headquarters.

The company said rice distribution continues from 42 of its 51 depots in Karnali. Provincial chief Keshav Raj Budha said nearly 40,000 quintals of rice are currently in stock across the region.