Jhum cultivation: The real picture

A rather petite fair-skinned man is briskly selling goods at his stall. He can speak Bangla pretty well and always has a joyful smile when talking to customers– trying his best to address their needs.

This is how Pushinu Tripura, was selling goods produced through jhum cultivation at Parbatya Mela, held recently at the capital.

Unlike the other shops at the fair he had no tent or bamboo canopy over his shop, his products were scattered in plastic containers on the dusty ground. He told me “Now, it’s winter. The air is cold. I am not facing any problems running my shop in such conditions’’.

Tripura continued to say “People have a different type of attraction towards jhoom crops. Many people are buying them.” Pushinu Tripura said this with a pleasant smile, “Jhum crops are becoming popular among the Bengalis too.”

In Tripura’s shop, there were gourds, big chillies, gingers, coconut edible roots, five-faced edible roots, and many kinds of rice. All these were produced through jhum.

In January, a three-day-long Parbatya Mela was organised and this is where I met Pushinu Tripura. People from Rangamati, Bandarban and Khagrachari came here from different ethnicities, bringing indigenous items from their regions.

Jhum cultivation has always intrigued me and I have been searching for a jhum farmer for a long time. I often wondered how jhum cultivation continues present time.

From books and reports, I have learnt a lot about jhum cultivation. But there was still a lot left for me to know from jhoom farmers.

What is the economic potential of jhum cultivation? Is this cultivation enough for jhum farmers or do other people from different parts of the country purchase jhum products? What influence do jhum crops have on the country’s economy?

Usually, for jhum cultivation, hilly lands are selected. In jhum cultivated areas no other crops can be farmed for at least three years. For this specific reason every year jhum has to be cultivated in different areas.

After selecting these slopy areas, a small sample portion of soil is wrapped inside the banana leaf and the farmers take this sample home. Before the farmers go to bed, the sample soil is kept behind their heads and with this, they also keep a beetle leaf, water and wine. It is believed that, if the farmer has a good dream he decides to farm in that place and if the farmer has a bad dream, he doesn’t farm there. In this way, they select the land for jhum cultivation.

In the past, before jhum cultivation, they used to dance and sing. Nowadays this is rare among them. Songs in the mountain ranges frequently mention jhum, especially in Chakma songs. In these songs, they try to lyrically illustrate the jhum crops. It is a distinct feature of Chakma songs. Jhum features prominently in Marma, songs and dances.

They celebrate certain religious jhum festivals and cultural programs. The entire jhum cultivation is a huge part of their cultural and religious life. Their culture is very rich and unique and the way they celebrate these events truly represents their culture.

Mostly during January, the farmers clear out the space for jhum cultivation. They cut down plants, bushes and darnels. There are some superstitions about cutting trees. They believe they cannot cut down some specific trees. They believe gods are living in those trees. If believing this saves those trees even if the superstations are not wrong, it’s still a good deed. Either way, it’s good for the environment and mankind.

They always cut down small trees that are lesser than a foot and chop off the twigs of the tall trees. Habitually the farmers, who farm jhum, never cut down the tall trees. For jhum cultivation, they cut down the bushes, twigs, darnels and plants and scatter them around. These get dried in a month. After a month, they are burnt into ashes. The land is kept like this for a month or so. In April, the place is ploughed. During this time, there is a bit of rainfall. The rainwater makes the soil wet and farmers prepare the land for cultivation.

Before planting rice, they sacrifice chickens in the jungle and perform puja. This is done so that, the gods in the jungle don’t hurt them and keep them safe and healthy, this is known as ‘jum-mara’.

After performing this, they start to plant rice. 8-10 days later, rice husks start to grow. After a month, ryegrasses and darnels start to appear and the farmers take these down. Nowadays in the rice fields, they use fertilizers. In the following 2 months, the rice paddy grows longer and rice starts to come out. This process takes about four months, for the rice paddy to become ripe. When the rice paddy becomes ripe, they cut them down.

In the rice fields, they also plant chillies, gourds, turmeric, ginger, banana, coconut edible roots, five-face edible roots, sesame, Ziziphus mauritiana etc. Previously, they planted local rice like binni, gora, moithon, mujangmo, gunda etc. Even now, they plant binni rice. Back in the day, whenever they used to finish harvesting the rice, they would go home and celebrate.

After planting the rice, they live close to the rice fields, to monitor the cultivation. They build houses out of bamboo, their houses are designed having four long logs supporting their main house above ground, they live above ground, so they are protected from the wild animals

Since ancient times jhum cultivation was always a part of their livelihood. In the recent few years, they are struggling to cultivate jhum. This fight of theirs is of two types. One is fighting with natural disasters. For some time, people have been saying that jhum cultivation is harmful to the hill environment. Ethnic minorities are saying that jhum cultivation is saving the hill environment rather than destroying it. Moving on from this debate, jhum cultivation is saving the lives of hill people.

Till now, three mountain regions are still remote, and outside people cannot visit there. Even the government cannot send people there, for the cultivation of tea, rubber and etc. In these regions, ethnic minorities live. For these people, the main livelihood is jhum cultivation. There is no other occupation other than jhum cultivation. They live so far away that they cannot go to cities and buy food. Nor do they have enough money to purchase food and bear transport costs, whenever they do visit cities, they have to walk there. In these mountainous areas, they don’t really have access to transportation.

This is how we can understand that jhum is their only source of food and income. But they are fighting to save jhum cultivation. For years they are trying to make the government understand that jhum doesn’t harm the hills. But in reality, social forestry is harming the hills because after they plant trees in the forest, 12-13 years later these trees are cut down.

Hill people never cut down their own forests because in forests other than gods some trees contain medicine. In this way, they can use medicine to treat themselves and live properly. There is a spiritual connection between the forest and the people and just like this; they also religiously and practically have affection towards forests. They also have affection towards medicinal plants. This is certainly a bond that cannot be found in the social forestry section. In social forestry, after cutting down the trees, new seedlings are planted. The biodiversity of the forest is not being saved here.

In the Chittagong Hill Tracts, jhum is such a unique cultivation system, which does not require irrigation. In the hills, irrigation is not possible because of sloppy edges. In jhum, there are many mixed species of plants. The mountain people are saying that “Until the government gives us a new agricultural system, till then jhum cultivation will continue.”

The main point is that if a new agricultural system is given by the government, will it harm the environment or not? We also have to consider about production growth. We cannot deny the fact that jhum promotes biodiversity.

Recently, the jhum area is being acquired and converted into tourist spots. The affected people are saying that “they are evicting us alright but we need a place to live the rest of our life. We want to live there with our cultural identity. There is no employment for ethnic minorities in the tourism sector. Is this right? In the promise of development, we are being evicted from our beloved homes. So where will we go?”

If jhum cultivation is stopped how will the ethnic minorities survive? We have to figure out a way, so they can live gracefully and happily. It is our responsibility.

The writer is a freelance columnist. She can be contacted at [email protected]