Economy

02 March 2010
Posted in General

Forestry and agriculture/horticulture are main pillars of the region’s economy (Agriculture 37%, Forest products 10%, food crops and horticulture 19%, fisheries 2% and livestock 5%). Alongside, service sector also plays a considerable role and with favourable environment and appropriate institutional support, it has tremendous economic potential for the future (particularly community based eco-tourism). The role of industry is not very significant; the few industrial units in the region are mostly concentrated on forestry/agro-based products.

Agricultural production systems: The hilly nature of the terrains severely restricts the availability of land for plough cultivation that contributed to some distinctive production systems, specific to the region. Furthermore, the construction of the Kaptai dam also severely reduced the overall quantity of cultivable lands (40% of all available cultivable lands are submerged under its water). Till date, the major agricultural production systems practised in the region are;

o Jhum of shifting cultivation on the hill slopes

o Valley bottom and piedmont cultivation

o Perennial crop and timber production

Jhum cultivation: Jhum cultivation, also known as shifting agriculture, slash and burn cultivation or swidden cultivation is a particular agricultural production system specific to hilly/mountainous areas where suitable lands for plough-land cultivation are scarce. For Jhum, a parcel a hill slope is selected, usually in the months of February/March. The land is then cleared off the jungle and subsequently burnt when the felled trees, shrubs and creepers are dried. With the arrival of the first rainfalls, usually by late April/early May, the seeds are sown on the slopes. The ashes from the burnt trees and shrubs work as fertilizer. However, in recent years there has been growing number of reported cases of the use of chemical fertilizer in Jhum fields. This is symptomatic of the problems that the people of the region are currently facing; an accelerated demographic growth rate, a stagnant regional economy, a reduced ratio of total cultivable land masse per inhabitant and an increasingly shorter fallow period for Jhum areas etc.

Seeds of a variety of crops are planted in the Jhum. These include; rice, cotton, maize, yams, melons, pumpkin and chilly, cassava, oilseeds and vegetables of different varieties.

The Jhum cultivator start harvesting the crops from early June; the first harvests are green chillies and the last harvests are usually the oilseeds (sesame), collected by November/December. (More on Jhum, see “Peoples and Culture” section)

Table: Estimated Areas in Use for Different Agricultural Production Systems in the CHT Region (in ha)

(Source: Technical Assessment for the Development of Agriculture in Chittagong Hill Tracts, FAO, Dhaka 2003)

Agricultural products: The major agricultural products are; (1) Rice (2) Corn (3) Sesame (4) Cotton (5) Tea (6) Tobacco (7) Arum (8) Melon (9) Pumpkin (10) Brinjal (11) Cucumber (12) Mustard (13) Chilly (14) Radish (15) Egg-plant (16) Ladies finger (17) Yam (18) Pulse (19) Turmeric (20) Ginger (21) Onion (22) Garlic etc.

Fruits: The major products are; (1) Banana (2) Pineapple (3) Jackfruit (4) Orange (5) Cashew nut (6) Lemon (7) Limes and (8) Papaya

In recent years, several entrepreurships/business concerns have developed based on traditional handicrafts/looms of the local indigenous ethnic groups, many of which have already received wider recognition.

Source: IWGIA