Jhum cultivation continues unabated

A part of unclassified state forest for jhum cultivation.Photo: STAR

About 25,000 acres of forest land, including reserve forest, have been brought under jhum cultivation in the current season at eight upazilas in Khagrachhari in defiance of law.
Jhum is a traditional method of cultivation of indigenous people in the Chittagong Hill Tracts (CHT).
As a result, not only the government is losing a huge amount of revenue but also at least 120 types of wildlife are on the verge of extinction, environmentalists and locals said. The birds have virtually lost their safe habitats.
Continuous tilling of hill slopes is also appears as a major concern of massive soil erosion as forests and shrubs are cleared off and burnt, damaging bio-diversity that may cause environmental disaster, they said.
During jhum cultivation, many valuable timber trees and medicinal plants are also stolen from the forest. Even the jhum farmers sometime build permanent house in the forest land, ignoring government circular, sources said.
Zaliyapara Range Office sources said they are trying their level best to make farmers aware of the possible disaster, but they pay little attention to their advice.
They burnt to ashes 2,069 acres of Reserve Forest at Baillachhari under Matiranga upazila while most portion of 2,500 acres of Jugalchhari Reserve Forest under Panchhari upazila, some 30 acres of Khagrachhari reserve forest and 20 thousand acres of land for non-classified state forest land have been brought under jhum cultivation, sources said.
Though indiscriminate jhum cultivation on flood-free hill slopes is increasing as it earns good profit for farmers, particularly in the rainy season, the revenue income from the reserve or unclassified state forest is gradually decreasing, they said.
Biru Kumar Tripura, 28, from Baillachhari reserve area, said he burnt a big area in the reserve forest at Baillachhari as jhum cultivation is their traditional right. He said he has cleared about five acres of the reserve forest land. About 100 more farmers from his village did the same, he added.
Biru, however, said he has no knowledge about the ban on such acts and nobody ever has told them about the law.
Rajkumari Tripura, a woman from the same area, said the people living in the reserve forest are very poor. They engage themselves in jhum cultivation inside the forest since thay have no source of income, she said.
According to a statement of the Zaliyapara range, 25,03,490 teak saplings were planted in the forest in last 25 years. But this correspondent did not find a single tree in the reserve forest.
Guimara Union Parishad Chairman Nayan Tripura said the forest has been reduced due to jhum cultivation for lack of timely action.
Zaliyapara Forest Ranger Zillur Rahman said most of the indigenous people are involved with jhum cultivation destroying the forest.
Zillur said he had lodged a general diary with Guimara Police Station against jhum farmers on March 5 who set fire to reserve forest and made it barren.
Baibonchhara UP Chairman Aprushi Marma said about 1,000 farmers who have houses either in the reserve forest or unclassified state forest are engaged in jum cultivation.
Bangladesh Environment Lawyers' Association (BELA) network member Muhammad Abu Daud said at lest 70 varieties of medicinal plants have been lost due to massive jhum cultivation inside forest.
Pradip Chowdhury, Programme Supervisor of Centre for Sustainable Development (CFSD), said jhum cultivation is responsible for extinction of wildlife and destroying environment.
Executive Director of Global Village, Rangamati Fazle Elahi said indigenous farmers are forced to jhum cultivation as they find hardly any alternate way of earning bread and butter and the government should come forward to help them.
Divisional Forest Officer (DFO) Mohammad Ali Kabir admitted to jhum cultivation in the reserve forest and damage to the environment.
He said he can't deal with over 30 to 40 thousand jhum farmers with limited staffs.