Chapter – 1
Introduction to the Study
1.1 Background
Nepal is naturally a beautiful country. It has have abundance potentiality in agriculture, in spite of its tough topography, its potentiality in agro product is favored by its peculiar climatic zones and geography. Nepal is primarily an agricultural country with about 26.6 million human populations out of which 83 percent population resides in rural area and 78 percent people are highly dependent on agriculture (CBS 2011). Timber has been and still is the major source of energy daily used by massive rural population in Nepal. This total dependence on fire wood as the source of energy for cooking has resulted in deterioration of the quality and quantity of forests and has posed a serious threat in maintaining ecological balance, thereby manifesting various problems like deforestation, flood, Global warming, soil erosion , landslides, climate change and severe health problems. The pressure on forest resource for energy fulfillment is considerably increasing due to high population growth in rural areas causing scarcity of energy for cooking as well as other various purposes. As a consequence, many people in the rural areas are burning livestock dung and other agricultural residues as an alternative of timber. This has been one of the factors in deterioration of environment and soil fertility in the country. Nevertheless, the energy pattern and its utilities in rural Nepal have created a serious health problem to rural housewives. However, it is felt a bit earlier to capitalize on the alternative energy sources like biomass energy has still not into practice to the extent at which its prospects are realized in rural development.
