Part XII: Surya Prasad Adikiri, permaculturist

Surya, like Laljahri, appeared at the conference as a surprise participant. He heard about the conference by word of mouth, knew some of the other attendees, and had come on his own volition. The first moment I talked with him I was enthralled with his sense of humor and his vast knowledge of plants and agriculture. He was like a gnome (as you can see in the photos) and totally enchanting.

He started by talking enthusiastically about Bill Mollison, an Australian, and one of the gurus of Permaculture, a method of agriculture that relies on perennial (permanent) crops like nut and fruit trees and less on annual crops like tomatoes and corn that have to be planted each year.


Mollison has written a number of books that promote permaculture and he speaks at workshops and conferences around the globe. He's work is part of a larger world focus by farmers, activits, environmentalist and food system analysist who are trying to transform current, high input, and minimally sustainable, industrialized agriculture, to a much more resilient food system that is sustainable for a long term.

Surya came to the conference primarily to talk about and promote permaculture 'systems' for Nepal and had a great deal of practical knowledge about agriculture, generally, in Nepal as well as about Permaculture.

The first time I had a chance to talk to him he told me the following story. He said that one day about two years before the conference Surya had at the rural bus stop at Bagnis where the trail to his village begins. His village is tiny and very remote, accessible only on foot and a good four hour hike from the road. As Surya waited for the bus to the central Nepali city of Pokhara he saw a flier taped on a pole announcing that Bill Mollison was speaking in Kathmandu the following night. Surya had never heard of Bill Mollison and he also knew nothing of permaculture at that point in time. He was drawn, he told me, only to the name and felt he absolutely must attend the lecture, that his future depended on it. So, he said, he walked a considerable distance to another bus stop and took an overnight bus to Kathmandu. He arrived there the next morning and spent the day wandering around Kathmandu. He was the first one at the auditorium in the evening to hear Mollison and after Mollison finished his lecture Surya waited for a chance to talk to him and ask him some questions. When he got his chance Mollison he told me that he was so enchanted with Surya that the pair stayed up all night talking.

Surya was three days late getting home, he said. He walked to his village fueled with intense energy. He was feeling that the chance meeting with Mollison was transformative for him and his family and perhaps others in his circle of friends and neighbors. The minute he got home he went to his wife, Santi, saying to her "your free” (as one would free a slave), and telling her she was free to do anything she liked with her life, that he acknowledged that he did not “own” her. He went to his older son and daughter and told them the same thing. (They told me they were slightly confused at the time by what he was saying). The next day he went to the village elders and asked to buy from the village a small, one hectare (2.4 acres) paddock that had once been used for grazing water buffalos. He told the elders that he was planning to use as a pilot permaculture project.