In these districts in Nepal, 9 out of 10 people still use wood to cook food

01 Aug 2017 - Priti Oli

Firewood has been a traditional source of fuel to cook in Nepal. Though few districts now use LPG gas and electricity, let’s take a look at what the data reveals.

According to the data from nepalmap.org, 64% people in Nepal are still dependent upon wood to cook their food. That means out 6 out of every 10 Nepali still uses wood to cook their food.

Here are the districts with the highest percentage of people dependent upon firewood for cooking:

Mugu: 99%

Rukum 98%

Salyan 97%

Doti 96%

Taplejung 96%

And, the following districts use firewood the least:

Kathmandu 8%

Lalitpur 18%

Bhaktapur 25%

Kaski 32%

Saptari 34%

Check out this interactive map to see how people throughout Nepal use wood to cook food.

With forests being destroyed for fuel, there is a need for alternative sources of energy for fuel.

Some alternatives could be a solar based cooker, bio-briquettes, biogas and so on. Many households have already harnessed benefits from such options and usage has been increasing steadily in various parts of Nepal.

Based on solar potential, many districts use solar based lightening however only a few districts use solar based cooking methods.

What do you think? Tell us in the comments.