Food crisis feared in Bandarban

The situation is similar to the one in 1997 when there was a serious food crisis in remote areas of Ruma, Thanchi and Alikadam upazilas as people could not raise crops due to lack of water, Chai Hla Prue, an elderly Karbari (Headman of a village) at Boro Madak village in Thanchi said while talking to this correspondent on Thursday.

Many people died for want of food and the government had to drop food grains through helicopters, he said.

The rainy season is nearing its end but people can neither transplant paddy seedlings nor go for other crops. Seedlings are withering in seedbeds. They also do not have any stock of food grains from the previous harvest, he said.

According to records with the Soil Conservation and Development Centre (SRDC) in Bandarban, the required average rainfall in Bandarban is 2000 mm in 'kharip' season (rainy season). But it recorded only 385 mm rainfall so far this year though the monsoon is nearing an end, sources at the SRDC said.

Last year, the rainfall was 1207 mm in Bandarban in June and July, they said.

Agriculture officials are also worried. The situation is worse in areas where there is no plain land, they said. Mohammad Shahidullah Sarker, Deputy Director of District Agriculture Extension Department (AED), said agriculture in the hills is absolutely dependent on rain. Unlike in other areas of the country, irrigation by shallow or deep tube wells is beyond the reach of poor farmers in the area. Moreover, the farming pattern is also different.

Average yield of paddy in normal conditions is around five tonnes per hector. This year we are not expecting more than 1.5 tonnes per hector because of too inadequate rainfall, he said.

Cultivation in 'jhum' lands is affected more than in plain lands if the rainfall is inadequate. The district comprise seven upazilas but there is no plain land other than in Bandarban Sadar, Lama, Alikadam and Naikkhongchari upazilas.

About one lakh indigenous people of 11 tribes in Roangchari, Ruma and Thanchi upazilas; Sualock, Tongkaboti and Kuhalong unions in the Sadar; Merakhola, Soroi and Aziznagar in Lama; Poamuhuri Para, Kurukpatajhiri and Janali Para in Alikadam and the whole southern Naikkhongchari upazila depend on 'jhum' cultivation.

Besides, there are no market in these inaccessible areas due to lack of road communication. So the people of these areas live somehow on paddy, maize, potato, ginger and other crops they grow from 'jhum' cultivation.

They will face a food crisis if they can not grow crops due to lack of rain and the government does not takes steps in time, the officials said.