KATHMANDU, Oct. 17 -- Minister for Agriculture and Livestock Development Chakrapani Khanal has said that for Nepal, like other South Asian countries, food management has been the real challenge, not famine.

Speaking in Kathmandu on Wednesday on the occasion of World Food Day, he said that the production cost of food has increased as fewer people are attracted to agriculture these days, leading to decreasing production.

"The profession of agriculture is not profitable, because of which youths from the rural areas are going out of the country for foreign employment, leaving arable lands barren," he said. "Lack of manpower results in expensive labor, which makes it hard to increase production and maintain food security."

The government ha...