Photo: Collected
The ripe paddy harvesting festival is now going on in the mountains of Rangamati, Bandarban, and Khagrachari hill districts. Due to intermittent rains and favorable weather conditions, Jum cultivation and yield have improved. Due to favorable weather and regular maintenance, Khagrachari Jum has yielded well this time.
In addition to paddy, seasonal vegetables are cultivated in Jum. The golden paddy ripening in the hills of the hilly region has brought family comfort to the Jumias. Now there is a flood of happiness in the house. According to the sources of the Agriculture Extension Department, 40 thousand Jumia families are cultivating jum in the three hill districts of Khagrachari, Rangamati, and Bandarban in the current season on about 19 thousand 862 hectares of land. Among these, most Jum cultivation has been done in Bandarban hill district. In Bandarban, 28,000 families have cultivated Jum on about 12,000 hectares of land. In Rangamati, 5 thousand families have cultivated 5,500 hectares of land and in Khagrachari, 6,682 families have cultivated 11,124 hectares of land.
The amount of plowed land in hilly areas is much less. As a result, the only means of livelihood for the tribals was to grow crops in the mountains according to the ancient practice of jum cultivation. Usually during the months of Paush-Magh, forest clearing starts by selecting owned or abandoned thick forests, and hills and drying them in the hot sun till the months of Phalgun-Chaitra are burnt to ashes. In the first rains of Baisakh in Nera Hill, the first seeds of paddy are sown and later various types of herbs and vegetables are planted along with the seeds of various vegetables. At present, the crops produced by jum farming include Marpa (cucumber), beans, brinjal, sweet pepper, coriander, pumpkin, dhers, batima, kachu, ginger, sesame, and 40 types of monsoon vegetables. All these vegetables are now available in large quantities in every market in the hilly areas. On every haat day, traders of raw materials from different districts purchase them at wholesale rates load trucks, and transport them to different parts of the plain.
Among the Jum curries, Jum sweet pumpkin and white pumpkin are loved in all regions because of their delicious taste. It is known that the tari curries produced by Zoom are comparatively lower in price than other curries and the number of buyers is more. This time in other districts of this country, as the price of rice is high, the farmers of Joom can sell their produce to the wholesale traders at a good price. In other years where Jum farmers used to sell Marfa (cucumber) fruit at Tk 20 to Tk 25 per kg. At present it is being sold at the price of 40 taka in the local market. Farmers are happy to get a fair price.
Jum farmers Khagendra and Hari Tripura said that the weather was favorable from the beginning. In the month of Chaitra Baisakh, the sun was hot enough to burn the jum bush vines. In the Jaistha-Ashadha months, there was sufficient rain for the growth of seedlings of various fruits including paddy. Despite the threat of massive landslides, farmers have been spared severe losses due to low landslides. As a result, this time Zoom has yielded a bumper. Ripe paddy harvesting has started at different places in Alutila, Dighinala road of Khagrachari town.
Although Jum farming is harmful to the environment and surroundings, the farmers cannot be kept away from the plantations as it is the traditional farming method of the hills. Even after rehabilitating Jumias through various schemes, jum cultivation could not be stopped. In this situation, for the sowing and testing of new varieties of rice in Jum, the Bangladesh Rice Research Institute has experimentally planted two varieties of rice under research in Jum, including BRRI-24, BRRI-26, BRRI-27 of the Aush season, in Khagrachari. Bachirul Alam, Deputy Director of the Agriculture Extension Department, said that jum cultivation has been good in the exhibition plots as well. Among the four varieties, BRRI-24 and BRRI-27 yielded the highest, he said.
Although there is a negative perception of jum cultivation, the mountain communities of about 14 different languages, large and small, have been making a living by cultivating jum for ages. In an article written in 1988 by Gautam Kumar Chakma, central leader of Chittagong Hill Tracts Association and regional council member, it was mentioned that about 100,000 families in the Chittagong Hill Tracts grow Jum.
On the other hand, a survey conducted by the non-governmental development organization BRAC in 2001 showed that the 5 main communities of the Chittagong Hill Tracts
Of these, Murang 84.04, Tripura 54.08, Marma 42.3, Chakma 22.07, and Bengali 1.06% cultivate jum. Jhum in Chakma language, Chug in Tripura language and Ya in Marma language are cultivated in the hills.
Source: Online/GFMM
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