Phakphok is a Village in Phakphokthum Rural Municipality of

Ilam District Ilam district () is one of Districts of Province No. 1, 14 districts of Koshi Province of eastern Nepal. It is a Geography of Nepal#The Hill Region, Hill districts of Nepal, district and covers . The 2011 Nepal census, 2011 census counted 290,25 ...

in the

Koshi Province Koshi Province () is an autonomous Provinces of Nepal, province of Nepal adopted by the Constitution of Nepal on 20 September 2015. It covers an area of , about 17.5% of the country's total area. With the industrial city of Biratnagar as its cap ...

of eastern

Nepal Nepal, officially the Federal Democratic Republic of Nepal, is a landlocked country in South Asia. It is mainly situated in the Himalayas, but also includes parts of the Indo-Gangetic Plain. It borders the Tibet Autonomous Region of China Ch ...

. At the time of the

1991 Nepal census The 1991 Nepal census was a widespread national census conducted by the Nepal Central Bureau of Statistics. Working with Nepal's Village Development Committees at a district level, they recorded data from all the main towns and villages of each ...

it had a population of 4,233 persons living in 734 individual households. Phakphok borders with Panchthar district at north west whereas Ektappa borders at the east. Other settlement like Chamaita and Amchok are also linked with Phakphok at north east and south west respectively.

Socio-Economic

Agriculture has been major occupation of the people living in Phakphok- which is also the major income source of most of the families. Most of the major cash crops like

Nepali tea Nepali tea is a beverage made from the leaves of tea plants ('' Camellia sinensis'') grown in Nepal. They are distinctive in appearance, aroma and taste, but are similar in many ways to Darjeeling tea, which is produced over the border in India ...

and

Cardamom Cardamom (), sometimes cardamon or cardamum, is a spice made from the seeds of several plants in the genus (biology), genera ''Elettaria'' and ''Amomum'' in the family Zingiberaceae. Both genera are native to the Indian subcontinent and Indon ...

(Nepali-अलैंची) are grown at the northern parts of VDC whereas crops like

ginger Ginger (''Zingiber officinale'') is a flowering plant whose rhizome, ginger root or ginger, is widely used as a spice and a folk medicine. It is an herbaceous perennial that grows annual pseudostems (false stems made of the rolled bases of l ...

is grown on southern parts. Most of the cash crops are exported to

India India, officially the Republic of India, is a country in South Asia. It is the List of countries and dependencies by area, seventh-largest country by area; the List of countries by population (United Nations), most populous country since ...

Bangladesh Bangladesh, officially the People's Republic of Bangladesh, is a country in South Asia. It is the List of countries and dependencies by population, eighth-most populous country in the world and among the List of countries and dependencies by ...

and other countries. Other crops like

maize Maize (; ''Zea mays''), also known as corn in North American English, is a tall stout grass that produces cereal grain. It was domesticated by indigenous peoples in southern Mexico about 9,000 years ago from wild teosinte. Native American ...

rice Rice is a cereal grain and in its Domestication, domesticated form is the staple food of over half of the world's population, particularly in Asia and Africa. Rice is the seed of the grass species ''Oryza sativa'' (Asian rice)—or, much l ...

barley Barley (), a member of the grass family, is a major cereal grain grown in temperate climates globally. It was one of the first cultivated grains; it was domesticated in the Fertile Crescent around 9000 BC, giving it nonshattering spikele ...

potato The potato () is a starchy tuberous vegetable native to the Americas that is consumed as a staple food in many parts of the world. Potatoes are underground stem tubers of the plant ''Solanum tuberosum'', a perennial in the nightshade famil ...

etc. are also grown in the region. Phakphok VDC is connected with

Mechi Highway Mechi Highway or NH02 (previously: H07) () is a two-lane freeway in Koshi Province, spanning about 268 kilometers in length. The highway connects all the districts of former Mechi zone, hence the name ''Mechi''. It runs from the Village Developm ...

at Ranke bazar located at the border between Panchthar and Ilam district. Roads from Mechi Highway to Kolbhote are graveled which runs smoothly during September to May. During June to August, sometimes roads are paralyzed by landslid caused by

monsoon A monsoon () is traditionally a seasonal reversing wind accompanied by corresponding changes in precipitation but is now used to describe seasonal changes in Atmosphere of Earth, atmospheric circulation and precipitation associated with annu ...

. Regular public transport (most common- taxi or van) can be found connecting Kolbhote and district capital ilam commonly called as ilam bazar. All most all the phakphok VDC is electrified mainly from hydro electricity generated from the local river. Major electricity is provided by Mai Hydropower Station, Puwa Khola Hydropower Station and other small hydro power plants. Phakphok micro hydropower generated from Phakphok river provides most of the electricity at the southern parts of the VDC.

Geography and Climate

Phakphok is a hilly area located on the base of Mahabharat range with the average altitude of 2000-3000 meter. Phakphok khola is the major river of the VDC on the western border and another being Tyawa khola (River) on the eastern border. Northern parts of the VDC (ward-3,4,5) experiences quite heavy rainfall during monsoon season and are relatively cold with annual temperature ( min-8 to max- 23 °C). Southern part (ward-9) is relatively warm place where major rice cultivation is done. Mixed vegetation are found in the areas: for example trees like

pine A pine is any conifer tree or shrub in the genus ''Pinus'' () of the family Pinaceae. ''Pinus'' is the sole genus in the subfamily Pinoideae. ''World Flora Online'' accepts 134 species-rank taxa (119 species and 15 nothospecies) of pines as cu ...

, Aluus ( Nepali -उत्तिश),

schima ''Schima'' is a genus of evergreen trees belonging to the tea family, Theaceae. The genus inhabits warm temperate to subtropical climates across southern and southeastern Asia, from the eastern Himalaya of Nepal and eastern India across Indochin ...

(Nepali-चिलाउने), ''

Castanopsis tribuloides ''Castanopsis tribuloides'' is a species of flowering plant in the beech family Fagaceae The Fagaceae (; ) are a family of flowering plants that includes beeches, chestnuts and oaks, and comprises eight genera with around 1,000 or more specie ...

(Nepali-''कटुस'')'' are commonly found in the areas.

People

Racially mixed people lived in the areas both who has been migrated from other parts of the country and the local indigenous people. People from different races like

Limbu Limbu may refer to: * Limbu people, an indigenous tribe living in Nepal, Sikkim (India) and Bhutan ** Limbu language, their Sino-Tibetan language *** Limbu script **** Limbu (Unicode block) * Rambahadur Limbu Rambahadur Limbu, (; 8 July 1939 � ...

, Magar Chhettri,

Rai (), commercially styled as since 2000 and known until 1954 as (RAI), is the national public broadcasting company of Italy, owned by the Ministry of Economy and Finance. RAI operates many terrestrial and subscription television channels a ...

, Tamang etc. live together in a mixed society.

References

External links

UN map of the municipalities of Ilam District
{{Ilam District Populated places in Ilam District