Ahead of the International Day of the World’s Indigenous Peoples on August 9, which raises awareness of Indigenous rights and cultures worldwide, we must recognise the challenges such communities face in our country. According to a report by Prothom Alo, jhum cultivation, one of the central ways of Indigenous life in our country, has shrunken across Bandarban, Rangamati and Khagrachhari in recent years. Many jhum farmers have moved to fruit farming as an alternative.
Traditional jhum is a multi-crop system where rice, vegetables, pulses, spices, and other crops are grown together. For many farmers, treating the land with respect is central to jhum cultivation, and it is embedded in their identity and culture. It is particularly convenient in the hills as it doesn’t require a large irrigation system, heavy agricultural machinery, or substantial capital. This farming method has unique advantages because the polycultural approach can make crops more resilient to pests and climate shocks. The controlled use of fire in jhum cultivation is often used as a criticism. But when practised with adequate fallow periods and the burning is carefully managed, it becomes part of a rotational cycle, allowing the soil to regenerate over time. The length of the fallow period, however, is crucial to traditional jhum as shortening it weakens forest regeneration, depletes soil fertility, and undermines biodiversity.
A question that now naturally occurs is: why is such an age-old agricultural practice, which remains central to the livelihoods of so many residents of the Chittagong Hill Tract (CHT) region, being allowed to wither away? And perhaps a more concerning question is why there have not been adequate government initiatives to understand jhum cultivation and its significance.
Indeed, several factors played a role in the decline of jhum lands. For instance, the Kaptai hydroelectric dam across the Karnaphuli River submerged vast valleys and farmlands. This, along with commercial monocultural plantations, land encroachments, and climate change, contributed to the loss of jhum plots. However, this decline cannot be separated from the unresolved Indigenous question in Bangladesh. Nearly three decades after the CHT Accord was signed, some of its key provisions on land rights and local governance remain unimplemented. What has emerged instead is a trend of mindless development both in the CHT and beyond.
Therefore, we urge the authorities to ensure that jhum cultivation is recognised and treated as valuable ancestral knowledge. In cases where jhum is no longer considered viable, those whose lives and livelihoods depend on such farming must be justly transitioned into other agricultural practices. We also urge the government to be serious about protecting Indigenous rights and ensure that development in the hills strengthens, rather than erases, the ecological and cultural heritage of the CHT.
