ASHA

Rolpa

Rolpa is a district in Province No. 5 in midwestern Nepal. Rolpa covers an area of 1,879 km² with population (2011) of 221,177. Libang is the district’s administrative center.

By Nepalese standards, Rolpa is an underdeveloped area plagued by low life expectancy (52 years) and poverty (averaging about $100 per capita). It was a major flashpoint in the 1996-2006 Civil War.

Adjoining districts are Dang to the south, Pyuthan to the east, Salyan to the west and Rukum to the north. Most of Rolpa is rugged highlands populated by the indigenous Kham Magar nationality. Irrigated ricefields along the Madi Khola are of limited extent because it has a narrow inner gorge. In any case the Kham Magar live about a thousand meters upslope where little rice can be grown. Upland harvests of maize, millet and barley are invariably insufficient and so Rolpa has chronic food deficits. There is no post-secondary education in the district.


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