Following COVID-19, the Russia-Ukraine War severely disrupted global markets for agricultural input and output, affecting poverty and agrifood system (Arndt, et al., 2023). This has sparked concerns regarding the impacts of higher world commodity prices on developing landlocked countries, such as Nepal, which heavily rely on agriculture (Bentley et al., 2022). Literature indicates that these crises, including wars, are likely to increase informal trade (Chakunda, 2023). It is considered that informal economy which had been on a decline after the promulgation of Nepal’s Constitution in 2015, has started increasing after the COVID-19 pandemic, and is most likely to be affected by the increasing crises. This prevailing scenario presents challenges for Nepal’s Agrifood System that relies on the import of food and agricultural inputs. In this context, with the support of the United States Agency for International Development (USAID), the Cereal Systems Initiative for South Asia (CSISA) has challenges arising from the Russia-Ukraine war, such as informal trade, in the leadership of International Maize and Wheat Improvement Center (CIMMYT) and in collaboration with International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI), Institute for Integrated Development Studies (IIDS) and South Asia Watch on Trade, Economics and Environment (SAWTEE). Informal cross-border agricultural food trade (ICBAT) plays a significant role in landlocked Nepal's agricultural food system. A host of demand and supply side factors account for the prominence of informal trade in relation to formal. Informal trade comprises unrecorded flows of goods and services that escape official statistics, encompassing commercial transactions across international borders. The term "informal" refers to the nature of the trade rather than the traders' status. Literature categorizes informal trade into three main categories: a) unregistered traders, individuals, households, or firms operating outside the formal economy; b) registered firms or other entities evading regulations been working to address the intricate and urgent and duties completely i.e., smuggling; c) registered firms partly evading regulations and duties through different practices such as misclassification and mis invoicing.

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