Home Institution
Cornell University
Publication Date
Spring 2023
Abstract
Researching food-systems in Nepal can feel like drinking from a fire hydrant. Sixty-six percent of the population is directly involved in agriculture and a diverse set of ecocultural understandings influence the practice across the country’s landscapes, ranging from the Himalayas to urban centers to southern plains. In the Kathmandu Valley and peripheral hills where I conducted my research, seemingly any spare land was under cultivation, enabled by fertile ground, optimal climate, and market potential. But despite the prevalence of farming in daily life throughout the country, Nepal’s food system is not domestically self-sufficient. A complex web of imports and exports confuse diversified local systems. Food, fertilizer, and other life-supporting resources are imported to the country at incredible rates. Meanwhile, the country’s major export is humans, emigrating in masses from farm life to opportunity in cities or abroad. Thus, fronts of change in food systems are incoming. In the face of urbanization and globalization, I set out to study the loss of intrinsically ecological ways of living and farming. My research focused on the viability of efforts to preserve traditional knowledge, keeping the flows of nutrient and knowledge locally contained, or circular. The initiatives included Everything organic training center, Raithaane restaurant, Hasera Permaculture training center, Himgri Organic Permaculture farm, and the Farmer’s Market at Le Sherpa. I also spent a week living with a dairy farming family that had not been trained in organic method, which serves as a respective look at what these initiatives are seeking to address. Over the course of a month, I met many passionate people working to stabilize Nepal’s food system, striking the balance between traditional ways of life and contemporary thinking.
Disciplines
Agriculture | Asian Studies | Biodiversity | Community-Based Research | Food Security | Human Ecology | Place and Environment | Sustainability
Recommended Citation
Feely, Kaitlyn, "Ecological living in Nepali Food Systems: A Synthesis of Circular Nutrient and Knowledge Flows in the Kathmandu Valley" (2023). Independent Study Project (ISP) Collection. 3733.
https://digitalcollections.sit.edu/isp_collection/3733
Included in
Agriculture Commons, Asian Studies Commons, Biodiversity Commons, Community-Based Research Commons, Food Security Commons, Human Ecology Commons, Place and Environment Commons, Sustainability Commons
Program Name
Nepal: Tibetan and Himalayan Peoples