Geographical Information on Sandikhola

1 Background of Sandikhola

Sandikhola is situated in the Ghorka district in Nepal. The area is mountainous and is isolated due to its surrounding rough roads and steep terrain.

1.1 Geographical Situation of Sandikhola

The Ghorka region is located 140km west of the capital Kathmandu. It is positioned in the central hill region. It is located at an altitude of 1259m above sea level. (EWB Challenge 2014)

Figure 1: Map of the Ghorka Region

1.2 Population of Sandikhola

Sandikhola has a population of 456 people. Majority of these people make a living from farming. (2014 EWB Challenge Resources)

2 Current situation

Sandikhola has a subtropical climate and receives on average 1400-2000mm of rain per year and has an average of 26oC. Sandikhola has a two-season year made up of the dry and wet seasons. The dry season runs from October to May and the wet season from June to September.

2.1 Fuel for cooking

Villagers use firewood, which they get, from community forests where each community has its own allocation of wood. Buffalo and cow dung mixed with water and then fed into a reactor is used to provide villagers with biogas.

2.2 Effects of the cooking techniques used

Firewood storage takes up a lot of space. It also takes several hours to collect each day and when burnt it produces a lot smoke which is harmful to local residents.

Not all the villagers have access to biogas stoves. For those villagers that use biogas there is no smoke when cooking, but they do not have access to biogas all year round.

2.3 Current designs used

Open-fire and mud stoves which are located both inside and outside the house are used. Biogas is also used. Of three current designs mud stoves are the most used. Mud stoves use less firewood than open-fire stoves.

3 Why changes are required

• Improved cooking conditions

• To reduce storage space

• Environmental effects (deforestation, air pollution)

• To reduce time spent collecting wood

• Not every villager has access to biogas

Important points

• More than 17 million tonnes of fuel wood are consumed annually in Nepal, out of which less than 1% is commercialized. The rest is collected by the users free of cost from forests or their own cultivated land.

• Households with traditional mud stoves use less firewood than those that use a traditional open-fire stove. Information from two nationally representative household surveys show that in 1995/96 about 77% of Nepalese households used firewood for cooking. However, by 2003/04 the proportion of families doing this had increased to 84%.