Bitter gourd smoothies from Mandan Deupur

Last year we received a grant from Marr Munning Trust to work with EcoHimal Nepal to establish Mandan Deupur Agro Forestry Resource Centre (MD AFRC). It is modelled on the successes we have achieved at Deusa AFRC which has recently been extended.

The Coronavirus pandemic has led to a lockdown right across Nepal, but staff at MD ADFC have been able to continue to develop the plant nurseries and produce some fantastic crops. Where possible and safe, they have also been training local farmers - the need to adapt to climate and ecological breakdown has not gone away.

EcoHimal HQ have sent us some photo’s from a recent field visit. The first one shows a small training session for farmers inside one of the Polytunnels at MD AFRC:

Narayan Dhakhal, Exec Director of EcoHimal Nepal talks to farmers at MD AFRC, June 2020

Vegetables, fruits, nuts and pulses all seem to be doing very well at MD AFRC which is great news. As lockdown restrictions ease, local farmers will be able to visit more often for training and to purchase seedlings that they can plant. They will use them to develop or start their own kitchen gardens. Some will start small scale commercial farming.

Bitter gourd

One of the crops being grown and demonstrated at MD AFRC is Bitter Gourd. As the name suggests it is quite bitter to the taste; definitely a vegetable that needs the power of a spicy curry. However, it has several health benefits so it is certainly worth giving it a go.

As well as training farmers in how to grow and look after climate change resilient crops, EcoHimal also train farmers in how to market their crop to improve incomes.

Bitter gourd at Mandan Deupur AFRC, Nepal, June 2020

A third and newer level of support EcoHimal are offering is advice and practical support on the crucial dimension of adding value to the crop. This is crucial to economic development as we explored in our Coffee. Climate. Community. film. If more of the value from the sale of coffee can stay in Nepal (e.g. through roasting in country rather than exporting coffee in green bean form), more money stays in the Nepalese economy, helping it to flourish.

The same principle can apply to fruit and vegetable crops at the level of the local economy around Mandan Deupur. Can value be added to Bitter gourd by farmers or small businesses?

Through their Facebook page (which a lot of farmers involved in EcoHimal’s projects follow), EcoHimal can show how crops like Bitter gourd can be turned into a marketable product - in this instance a delicious smoothie!

Biointensive tree-planting

We have received some brilliant photo’s from the EcoHimal Nepal team up in Deusa, Solukhumbu. They show how farmers are being trained to plant fruit trees using the ‘biointensive’ method.

This approach is labour intensive, it involves digging a one metre deep and wide hole, which often means digging out large stones and the collection of various forms of wet and dry vegetation as well as ash.

Once the hole is dug, it is carefully filled back in. The original soil is layered with the vegetation, with planters making sure the top soil goes back at the top!

Tree planting is an important part of the Agroforestry approach to climate change adaptation that is being adopted in rural mountain villages that our projects support. Farmers are trained in how to plant trees, how to nurture them through their early growth and how to look after them when they are fully mature. All this is done following strict principles of organic farming; making the adaptation mindful of its knock-on effects.

In Deusa, EcoHimal Nepal and the Agro Forestry Resource Centre are promoting a diverse range of trees and species. The resulting ‘agro-biodiversity’ is crucial to the climate resilience of each farm as a whole.

The support and training that enables climate change adaptation in Nepal doesn’t end with the fruiting of trees. EcoHimal also support farmers to get their crops to market through the establishment of cooperatives and routes to market.

To learn more about the biointensive method, watch this YouTube video of an EcoHimal training session in Mandan Deupur, Kavre - be warned though it is an unedited video of people filling in a hole - but there is a specific technique to this!

UPDATE: Soap and Hope in Solukhumbu

Through our #SOAPANDHOPE campaign, The Glacier Trust raised over £4,000 to support the efforts of our partner NGOs in Nepal to combat the threat of the Coronavirus pandemic. We topped this up with £2,000 from our reserves. In line with our principle of trusting and being led by our partners, we did not dictate how this money was to be spent. This series of photos was sent to us by EcoHimal Nepal.

The Coronanvirus pandemic and the nationwide lockdown that has resulted has had multiple impacts across Nepal. One of the biggest is the immediate end it has put to many people’s ability to earn money and buy food. In several locations, this is exacerbated by food supply chains becoming disrupted as imports from neighbouring India and China are either cut off by border restrictions, or seriously curtailed.

The priority for Mapya Dhuadkoshi in Solukhumbu therefore has been the supply and delivery of food staples. EcoHimal Nepal worked closely with local government to help supply this food, TGT has helped purchase and transport it to remote villages. These photos show rice arriving arriving in Mapya in mid May:

EcoHimal Nepal with support from The Glacier Trust and others has been enabling climate change adaptation in Solukhumbu for over ten years as part of an overall development effort. That work is now centred on Deusa Agro Forestry Resources Centre, but reaches out across the hills to neighbouring muncipalities, including Mapya Dhudakoshi.

UPDATE: Soap and hope in Kawasoti

Yesterday we received a series of photos from our NGO partner, HICODEF in Kawasoti, Nawalparasi, south central Nepal.

HICODEF has a scholarship programme for young people. They are all from very poor homes in and near Kawasoti, a town on the Terai plain. HICODEF invited the young women on the scholarship programme to their offices to collect materials. 19 households have been supported.

These materials were part funded by our SOAP AND HOPE Crowdfunder. Thank you for your support.

Three new rooms at Deusa AFRC

The Agroforestry Resource Centre at Deusa, Solukhumbu is one of TGT’s flagship projects. It was originally concieved by our founder Robin Garton and Narayan Dhakhal (EcoHimal) and opened its doors in 2015.

Since opening it has gradually expanded, with new office space, kitchens, meeting spaces, bathrooms and accommodation being added each year. TGT has been supporting this process. Last month, work was completed on an extension to the kitchen and office block:

Three bedrooms have been added, which can accommodate up to nine people. Deusa AFRC hosts regular training events, these rooms will enable farmers to stay overnight so that two-day courses become possible for those living further away.

The additional rooms will also be used by tourists and visiting school groups. Our co-directors, Richard and Morgan will no doubt also get a chance to sleep there one day soon too!

Maintain Physical Distance

Last week we created a series of Social Media assets to help spread important messages on maintaining physical distance to stop the spread of Coronavirus in Nepal.

Please share these images via your Social Media channels

For use as a Facebook cover image.

Facebook cover image

Instagram / Facebook post

Instagram / Facebook post

Instagram / Facebook post

Instagram / Facebook post

Instagram / Facebook post

Instagram / Facebook post

Instagram / Facebook

Instagram / Facebook

Facebook cover image

Facebook cover image

Please share these images

Illustrations by Yogesh Khapandi (Kathmandu); the design work has been done by Diana Garcia (London) with text by Eco Himal Nepal. Thank you all.

We have been sharing these images via our social media channels: Twitter, Instagram and Facebook. A ‘boosted’ post over the weekend helped us to reach 155,000 people in Nepal.

Please feel free to download these images and share them to help the Physical Distancing message spread.

If you would like to tag The Glacier Trust on Twitter or Instagram, our handle is @theglaciertrust

UPDATE: Soap and Hope

On Tuesday April 14th, we launched #SOAPANDHOPE a campaign to raise funds to support our partner NGOs in their efforts to prevent a catastrophic spread of the deadly Coronavirus in Nepal.

We achieved our initial target of £2,000 within 48 hours and combined that with £2,000 from TGT’s reserves to send £4,000 to Nepal on Thursday 16th. In addition to this funding, we also secured a donation of 7,200 bars of soap from Unilever as part of their global COVID-19 handwashing campaign.

If you have already supported, thank you. If not, there is still time, the crowdfunder will remain open until Tuesday April 28th.

In this article we summarise the activity that has taken place so far.

EcoHimal Nepal

We have sent £3,000 to EcoHimal, they have also collected 3,600 bars of soap from a Unilever depot near Kathmandu.

EcoHimal are our largest NGO partner, we are working with them to enable climate change adaptation in three different districts in Nepal: Kavrepalanchok, Solukhumbu and the very remote Sankhuwashabha.

Essential supplies are loaded onto a jeep in Kathmandu for delivery to Solukhumbu

Working closely with Local Government and project officers on the ground EcoHimal have purchased and distributed a variety of supplies to our project locations:

• 2,592 bars of soap have been sent to Thulung Dhudhakoshi and Mahakulung (Solukhumbu) these will be used by families served by Deusa Agro Forestry Resource Centre;

• 1008 bars of soap have been sent to Mandan Deupur in Kavrepalanchok; these will be distributed to families served by Mandan Deupur Agro Forestry Resource Centre;

• 166 KGs of summer vegetable seeds have been bought and sent to Thulung Dhudhakoshi;

• Mahakulung has received the following items:

  • 5 PPE packs;

  • 3 fever scanning thermal guns;

  • 5 litres of glycerine;

  • 30 N95 masks;

  • 500 pairs of disposal gloves;

  • 20 bottle of hand sanitizer (500ml each); and

  • 300 triple layer protection face masks

• 150,000 Nepal Rupees (approx. £980) has been sent to Sankhuwashabha to support in transporting emergency food supplies;

• Plans are also being made to send food items to Waku, our project location in Mapya Dhudhakoshi (a more remote part of Solukhumbu).

HICODEF (Nawalparasi)

£1,000 has been sent to our NGO partner HICODEF who are based in Kawasoti, Nawalparasi, south central Nepal. They have also collected 3,600 free bars of soap from Unilever’s depot in Chitwan.

3,600 bars of Lux soap arrive at HICODEF’s offices in Kawasoti ready for distribution to the rural villages.

We have worked with HICODEF for over five years to enable climate change adaptation in the Himalayan foothills just north of Kawasoti.

TGT is currently enabling HICODEF’s Layer Farming for Adaptation project in Nawalparasi East. There are eight municipalities in this district. HICODEF has consulted closely with Local Government officials to decide on how to spend the £1,000.

Lockdown means that people aren’t able to work or earn money, few families have adequate savings, hunger is therefore the immediate and gravest danger.

• HICODEF has purchased 100 bags of rice. This will bolster the supplies Local Government is providing. The 25KG bags will be distributed equally across the eight municipalities, with a focus on the most deprived households.

• The 3,600 bars of soap supplied by Unilever will also be distributed equally across the eight municipalities.

Local Government will organise and manage the distribution of soap and rice, with remote support by HICODEF’s officers and managers in the community.

Our Crowdfunder, #SOAPANDHOPE will be live until Tuesday April 28th. The response has been fantastic so far, we are near to hitting our stretch target and hope to go beyond that to hopefully raise a total of £4,000. That will enable us to spend a further £2,000 on efforts to prevent a Coronvirus catastrophe in Nepal. Please support if you can.

Local Government's Monitoring Of MD AFRC, Kavre

A few weeks back Mrs. Nirmala Shahi, Deputy Mayor of Mandan Deupur Municipality of Kavreplanchok. EcoHimal have updated their website with more details.