Home ›› 08 Aug 2021 ›› Nation
Meria Marma, a resident of the hilly areas in Khagrachhari, spends all day collecting local fresh vegetables from the slopes and bushes of the high hills to sell these on the local village market in the afternoon.
Not only Meria, but hundreds of other indigenous women of the hills collect different types of exquisite and rare vegetables from the hills of Khagrachhari.
After a whole day of foraging, they display their collection at Singinala’s Mohamuni Bazar, situated at the frontier areas of Shwanibar, Modhupur and Mahalchhari upazila.
“I wake up early in the morning every day to collect these vegetables from distant and often inaccessible areas of the hills. The vegetables we collect have a high demand on the market as it is fresh, naturally grown and hard to find,” Meria Marma told The Business Post.
The most common hilly vegetables found on this market are, bamboo shoots, taragach, kochushak (taro leaves), kochur lati (arum lobe), cress, green papaya, thankuni pata (Indian pennywort leaves), kolar mocha (plantain flower), bedagi, hathol dingyi, bigol biji, different types of hill potatoes, sweet potatoes, potatoes, beans, green jack fruits, etc.
“I earn Tk 200 to Tk 300 daily from selling these vegetables, which is enough to run my family.”
After foraging vegetables from bushes, slopes of the hills, the women collect fruits and veggies from jhum (one kind of shifting cultivation technique popular in the hilly areas of Bangladesh) orchards.
These vegetables have high nutritious value and grow naturally without any chemical fertilisers, which has made it very popular among health conscious people.
The hills of Khagrachhari and its natural resource of wild vegetables are not only empowering these women but providing a chance to the rest of the people, Bengali and indigenous, to amaze their tastebuds with its’ exquisite taste.
Along with Meria, other vegetable forager Nika Tripura, Ulaprue Marma and Beauty Tripura earn their livelihood by collecting and selling these vegetables.
On a field visit, the Singinala Bazar seemed to buzz with sellers and buyers. Most of the sellers in this market are women, but a few men sellers were also seen with their baskets full of veggies, fruits and fresh fish collected from the Kaptai Lake, which is adjacent to the area.
The men said these women’s success in selling vegetables had inspired them to come into this business.
Neel Ranjan Chakma, a regular customer of the market, told The Business Post that the livelihood of indigenous people living in the hills is tough.
Along with the existing cultivation and transportation problems, the Covid-19 pandemic has dealt a blow to the jhum farmers of the region, he said.
“These women work so hard to collect these wild vegetables from the inaccessible hilly areas. They are not only empowering themselves but feeding their families and contributing to the overall economy of the country, which is so inspiring,” he added.
“I come to the market every day not only to buy fresh vegetables but to pay tribute to these women who are changing their fates by hard work and perseverance,” Neel said.
Golabari Union Parishad Headman Ukyasein Chowdhury told the Business Post that most of the indigenous people living in this region are under privileged.
“Livelihood of these people largely depends on jhum farming, which had faced a blow because of the Covid-19 induced lockdown and transportation problem. Now as they are facing a huge economic crisis, they are opting for foraging vegetable, which grows in abundance in the hills,” he said.
