Himalayan Permaculture Centre (HPC) is a grass-roots, permaculture-led NGO operating in remote, poor, and resource-depleted farming communities in Western Nepal. It is run by farmers from Surkhet and Humla districts.
With local communities across 31 villages, HPC runs regenerative projects with a unique cross-sector approach, integrating food security and sovereignty, health, education, livelihoods and capacity building. The result is abundant villages embracing a variety of livelihoods, culture and biodiversity, where people are not forced to leave because of poverty.
HPC’s strategy has four pillars.
Demonstration:
- It demonstrates agroecological methods and technologies for providing resilient domestic food and energy security
- Demonstrations happen at its Resource Centres, and by farmers in their own fields
- 178 farmers are now ‘demonstration households’, having shown improvements in diversity of farm activities, and increased income
Training and education:
- It trains on agroecological methods, preventative health, and literacy
- 7,872 women and 8,253 men farmers have been trained
- 41 demonstration farmers surveyed achieved a combined increased income of £50,000 in the past year, directly due to training activities
Resources:
- Providing seed, seedlings, information, infrastructure and networks needed for farmers
- Farmers have planted 82,000 fruit trees and 117,000 multi-purpose trees and shrubs in 31 villages
- It has made 17 training videos and distributed 12,000 copies of its “Farmers’ Handbook”.
Research:
- Identifying innovative practices and resources that can be used by farmers
- It has made 800 zero-cost smokeless stoves from 100% local resources, reducing firewood use by 35% and lung, eye and ENT (ear, nose & throat) problems by 60%
