20,000 acres of CHT land brought under rubber cultivation
A rubber garden at Panchmail in Khagrachhari district headquarters. Photo: STAR
At least 20,000 acres of land have been brought under rubber cultivation in Chittagong Hill Tracts (CHT). Chittagong Hill Tracts Development Board (CHTDB) has raised a rubber garden on some 15,000 acres of land while rubber cultivation is going on some 5000 acres of land under private initiative, sources said. CHTDB sources said trees of the garden grew over the last 29-30 years since 1979-1980 and are not matured enough to yield full production. It has about 26 lakh rubber plants on 13200 acres of land with some 200 rubber trees on each acre of land under the project while rest of the land is being used for other purposes. Production started at the CHTDB garden in 1992 and earned Tk 5 crore annually on an average. Some 5 lakh rubber plants are also growing on 5,000 acres of land under private initiative, sources said Asian Development Bank (ADB) provided Tk 52.5 crore in phases from 1979 to 1995 and the government allocated Tk 13.5 crore after CHT peace accord was signed in 1997. Some 3,300 stakeholder farmers of the project said they are not getting 60 percent of the income as per deeds they signed with CHTDB. The authorities also deprived them of their due share for many years through producing a false data of production and income, they added. CHTDB sources said many farmers have been solvent through rubber cultivation while farmers and agriculturists term it non-profitable and hazardous to health. About 50,000 people, who have been living in rubber garden areas or engaged in rubber production, are facing differing health hazards, sources said. The farmers and workers hardly got profit from the hazardous work in last 30 years due to mismanagement, irregularities and corruption by the officials concerned, sources added. Binoy Bhuson Chakma, a farmer of Bhaibonchhara area under Sadar upazila in Khagrachhari, said most of the farmers are suffering from different diseases as they are unaware of the health hazard due to rubber cultivation for years. Amiya Kanti Roaza, assistant general manager of the CHTDB Rubber Gardens project, said there is no bad affect of rubber garden. If the gardens are harmful to human body, government would never initiate such a project to financially benefit some 5,000 people, he added. Khagrachhari District Horticulture Officer Mohammad Mizanur Rahman said those working in rubber gardens mostly suffer from various skin diseases. He said most of the farmers are not getting proper benefits due to mismanagement and irregularities by a section of corrupt officials. General Manager of Rubber Project Mohammad Ali Hydar said most of the rubber cultivation has been continuing on the unused fellow land where no other crops can be cultivated. Many farmers have been benefited it, he said. He said there is no impact on environment or health hazard following rubber cultivation as the rubber trees are green. Deputy Director of District Agriculture Extension Mohammad Abdul Malek said government should start fruit orchard on the land where rubber cultivation is going on as the farmers can be benefited from fruits orchards in 5 years. He said 'even birds or animals do not eat the fruits or green leaves of rubber for its bad affect while no birds make nest inside rubber gardens. "Rubber is an industrial, labourious and long desired product. Without hard labour farmers can't be benefited while they can easily be benefited from any fruits or woods garden in a short time, he said. Divisional Forest Officer (DFO) Ali Kabir said the project could not serve its purposes due to lack of a proper management, he said.
For all latest news, follow The Daily Star's Google News channel.
Comments