Mechi ( ne, मेची अञ्चल ) was one of the fourteen

zones Zone or The Zone may refer to: Places Climate and altitude zones * Death zone (originally the lethal zone), altitudes above a certain point where the amount of oxygen is insufficient to sustain human life for an extended time span * Frigid zone, ...

Nepal Nepal (; ne, नेपाल ), formerly the Federal Democratic Republic of Nepal ( ne, सङ्घीय लोकतान्त्रिक गणतन्त्र नेपाल ), is a landlocked country in South Asia. It is ma ...

until the restructuring of zones to

provinces A province is almost always an administrative division within a country or state. The term derives from the ancient Roman '' provincia'', which was the major territorial and administrative unit of the Roman Empire's territorial possessions ou ...

, comprising four districts; namely Ilam,

Jhapa Jhapa ( ne, झापा जिल्ला; ) is a district of Province No. 1 in eastern Nepal named after a Rajbanshi word "Jhapa" meaning "to cover" (verb). The latest official data, the 2021 Nepal Census, puts the total population of the d ...

Panchthar Panchthar district ( ne, पाँचथर जिल्ला) is one of 14 districts of Province No. 1 of eastern hilly region of Nepal. It is a Hill district of eastern Nepal. The district covers of area. The 2011 census counted 191,817 pop ...

and

Taplejung Taplejung District ( ne, ताप्लेजुङ जिल्ला ) is one of 77 districts of Nepal and one of the 14 districts of Province No. 1. It is remotely located in the Himalayas in Eastern Nepal with Tibet to the north across th ...

. Its headquarters are at Ilam. It comes under the Eastern Development Region of Nepal. The Indian state of

Bihar Bihar (; ) is a state in eastern India. It is the 2nd largest state by population in 2019, 12th largest by area of , and 14th largest by GDP in 2021. Bihar borders Uttar Pradesh to its west, Nepal to the north, the northern part of West ...

is to the south,

West Bengal West Bengal (, Bengali: ''Poshchim Bongo'', , abbr. WB) is a state in the eastern portion of India. It is situated along the Bay of Bengal, along with a population of over 91 million inhabitants within an area of . West Bengal is the fou ...

and

Sikkim Sikkim (; ) is a state in Northeastern India. It borders the Tibet Autonomous Region of China in the north and northeast, Bhutan in the east, Province No. 1 of Nepal in the west and West Bengal in the south. Sikkim is also close to the Sil ...

in the east and

Tibet Tibet (; ''Böd''; ) is a region in East Asia, covering much of the Tibetan Plateau and spanning about . It is the traditional homeland of the Tibetan people. Also resident on the plateau are some other ethnic groups such as Monpa people, ...

to the north. The largest town is

Damak Damak (Nepali: दमक), a city in eastern Nepal is one of the oldest municipalities in Jhapa District in Province No. 1 of Nepal. It is situated between the Ratuwa River in the east and the Maawa River in the west. It has Sivalik Hills in it ...

in the

Terai , image =Terai nepal.jpg , image_size = , image_alt = , caption =Aerial view of Terai plains near Biratnagar, Nepal , map = , map_size = , map_alt = , map_caption = , biogeographic_realm = Indomalayan realm , global200 = Terai-Duar savanna a ...

. The majority of the population in Mechi are Limbu, Chettri, Bharmin, Maithil and Meche.

Administrative subdivisions

Mechi was divided into four districts; since 2015 these districts have been redesignated as part of

Province No. 1 Province No. 1 (proposed names: Kirat, Limbuwan, Khambuwan, Sagarmatha, Birat and Koshi) is the easternmost of the seven provinces established by the new constitution of Nepal which was adopted on 20 September 2015. The province covers an ...

. Among the four districts, Jhapa is in the Terai and it is more developed than the other three districts. Ilam and Panchthar are in the hilly region. Ilam is also in a developing stage, with many tourists visiting annually. Kanyam is popular for its tea garden. At Antu the rising sun can be viewed. Taplejung is the least developed of the four districts. Taplejung is in the mountainous zone. There are two airports within Mechi: one in Bhadrapur and one in Taplejung.

Agriculture and industry

Mechi is famous for

microcredit :''This article is specific to small loans, often provided in a pooled manner. For direct payments to individuals for specific projects, see Micropatronage. For financial services to the poor, see Microfinance. For small payments, see Micropa ...

development. The Small Farmer Development Programme (SFDP) was the first rural and micro-financing program in Mechi. The Agricultural Development Bank started this SFDP in 1988. It started in a few VDCs and spread. After lifting many people out of poverty, the SFDP was handed over to the local people and the new institution was named Small Farmer Cooperative Ltd (SFCL). There are 13 SFCLs in Mechi, each of which covers a single VDC. It is one of the major districts for the production of tea and rice. Budhabare is on the northern side of the Mahendra Highway and is one of the most fertile lands of Nepal. Mechi as a district is popular for the bittle nuts (Supari). Several large tea estate are in Mechi.

Giri Bandhu Tea Estate Giri Bandhu Tea Estate is a large tea company based in Jhapa, Nepal. It was founded in the early 1960s by late Shamsher Giri, Tek bahadhur Giri, Padam Bahadur Giri, and Bhagawan Giri, and is one of the biggest players in the Nepalese tea industry. ...

, Burne Tea State, Tokla Tea Estate, Himalaya Tea State, Damak, Sattighatta Tea Estate are the major ones. Mechi has different sorts of communication medium.

Administrative subdivisions

Agriculture and industry

See also