Where heaven touches the earth - Nepal

Today we play in international waters with our Podcast Smut and Smaat. We speak to Narayan Dhakal from Kathmandu, who is the Executive Director of EcoHimal, an NGO that supports sustainable development projects in several regions in the Himalaya - Solukumhu region of Nepal. These rural regions face poverty, they are underdeveloped and they are very difficult to reach. The focus for EcoHimal is to support these regions in terms of supporting health management, providing access to clean water, supporting sustainable agriculture and regional development, investing in the infrastructure, promoting, and sustaining the cultural life. All projects pursue ecological, economic, social and cultural objectives, which are implemented hand in hand with the local farmers and people. EcoHimal tries to improve the living standards and conditions for the local population on a long-term basis. One of the latest EcoHimal projects focusses on educating and empowering girls and women who are still very disadvantaged in the Nepali society, particularly in the rural areas. EcoHimal has a HQ in Salzburg, Austria and Kathmandu, Nepal. EcoHimal is financed from public funds, as well as aid organizations, such as Lufthansa Help Alliance and through private donations. Nepal is a young federal democratic republic with the current population of over 27 million people. Nepal has risen from a 'low-income' country to the rank of a ‘lower-middle-income’ country with the gross national income (GNI) per capita of $1,090 as per World Bank’s latest country classifications by income level report. The global pandemic COVID has upended Nepal’s economy as well and because of this existing crisis, incomes at both homeland and abroad are expected to decrease sharply this year with its impact extending to next year as well. The gross national income will therefore suffer severely and will drag Nepal down among the low-income countries. Agriculture is the main sector for employment and two-third of the national labor force depends principally on the agriculture sector for livelihood. This sector contributed 27.59% to the national GDP in the year 2017/2018. However, per capita cereal production has declined and livestock production has remained stagnant over the last decade due to problems in agriculture sector. Trend of youths going abroad for work is increasing day by day leaving only women, children and old aged people. This has limited them to perform agricultural activities on a subsistence way just to join hand on mouth. Timur (Nepali Pepper) is prominently found in the project districts, which EcoHimal supports. Along with its abundance in the barren lands, surrounding areas of the croplands, and forests of the project districts; there are specific challenges related to harvesting, sorting, storing, packaging and transportation facilities in project area. The Cardamom cultivation has been adopted recently and is in its starting phase, where not much has been done in this sector. People lacks skills and knowledge of nursery establishment, plantation, weeding, harvesting and processing of the plants. The cardamom cultivation is slowly shifting from the Eastern part of the country to the Western part and it need more support to flourish it. Its commercialization may lead to employment opportunities, creating economic spaces for women. In case you can spare some money for a very good purpose kindly donate at: EcoHimal, Salzburger Sparkasse IBAN: AT64 2040 4015 0015 3569 BIC: SBGSAT2S

Om Podcasten

Tom und Katja unterhalten sich schon immer gerne über Essen, Trinken, Reisen, Kulinarik… nun in Form eines Podcasts. Sie haben zusammen die Hotelfachschule besucht und einige Törns auf der Alexander von Humboldt gemeinsam in einer sehr kleinen Kombüse gerne bei Seegang verbracht. Das schweißt zusammen! In ihrem Podcast sprechen sie über Rezepte, Zubereitungsmethoden, ferne Länder, Herausforderungen in der Gastronomie, Themen rund um die Kulinarik. Gerne werden auch Zuhörerfragen im Podcast aufgegriffen. Email: [email protected] oder schaut auf Instragram: #smutundsmaat vorbei.