The necessity to preserve soil fertillity and improve crop productivity, oblige women to cover hundreds of kms. transporting farmyard manure. In a "doko" a woman can carry about 20 kgs: the quantity of farm yard manure usually applied is 8-10 tons per hectare. - - General: General. Nepal, with an area of 147 181 km2., is a Kingdom located on the mid-Himalayan Section of Asia. It is a small landlocked country, situated at a distance of about 500 km. from the nearest sea, with approximately 77% of its total area consisting of mountains, hills, elevated plains and river valleys. The highest peak in the world, Mount Everest, is located in Nepal. The total population of the country is about 18.5 million; its growth rate is 2.6% per annum. Agriculture is the dominant activity of theNepalese people; it provides employment to 93% of the total population and brings in 52% of the total revenue of Nepal. Being a mountainous country, the cultivated land is limited to merely 18% of the total area; farming is mainly of subsistence type and yield per unit of land is very low. With a per capita income of US$140 per annum, Nepal is considered one of the poorest countries in the world.