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Improved Post-Harvest Handling and Processing Techniques for Value Addition of Cashew Nuts and Coffee in the Chittagong Hill Tracts - TCP/BGD/3609









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    Booklet
    Achieving Food and Nutrition Security in the Chittagong hill tracts
    Improving livelihoods through sustainable management of natural resources and technological innovations in agriculture
    2014
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    The Chittagong Hill Tracts are a unique part of Bangladesh. Large tracts of the region are covered by hills, creating a mountain ecosystem rich in biological and cultural diversity. In this area people have developed distinct agricultural practices and livelihood patterns. The CHT are home to a large number of ethnic communities, who depend mostly on jum, a type of traditional shifting cultivation on very steep slopes. The CHT are divided administratively into the three hill districts of Bandarb an, Khagrachari and Rangamati. It has a total population of about 1.7 million people and covers an area of 13,295 km². The harsh environment and decades of social unrest have made the hill tracts one of the most vulnerable regions in the country in terms of food security, income, employment, health, water and sanitation, education, access to infrastructure and services. The Chittagong Hill Tracts Peace Accord, signed in 1997, brought an end to more than two decades of conflict, making it possibl e for the local population to start improving their lives. The present challenges include land and population pressure, water scarcity in the dry season, extreme remoteness, weak market linkages and natural resource degradation. Greater efforts are needed to ensure that all the people in the Chittagong Hill Tracts enjoy food and nutrition security with respect for their unique traditions and identities.
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    Project
    Enhancing Rural Livelihood and Agriculture Productivity through Nutrition Sensitive Agrotechnologies to Mitigate the Impact of COVID-19 in Chittagong Hill Tracts of Bangladesh - TCP/BGD/3803 2023
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    The COVID-19 pandemic has had devastating impacts on the Chittagong Hill Tracts (CHT) area, leading to an increase in poverty. There has been a significant loss in production, which has resulted in heightened vulnerability among farmers and their families. The effects extend to various aspects of life, including family income, nutrition, education and access to health services. The necessary COVID-19 pandemic containment measures, such as quarantines, travel restrictions and city lockdowns, severely affected economic activities in transportation, retail trade, leisure, hospitality and recreation. The situation for poor farming communities in the mountainous areas of CHT particularly worsened. Farmers have been facing significant losses due to the decreased prices of their agricultural products, especially seasonal vegetables and fruits. The prices of vegetables and fruits have dropped by 20 percent to 40 percent over 2020 in the CHT area, induced by the COVID-19 situation. Seasonal fruits, such as pineapples, were notably being sold at much lower prices than usual. This economic downturn has resulted in many farmers losing their livelihoods and experiencing food insecurity.
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    Article
    Community-managed forest landscapes of the Chittagong Hill Tracts: a model of a resilient rural livelihood system in Bangladesh
    XV World Forestry Congress, 2-6 May 2022
    2022
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    Village Common Forests (VCFs) of Chittagong Hill Tracts (CHT) in Bangladesh are the community managed landscapes that harbor rare native plant and animal species which profoundly influences local people’s livelihoods. The purpose of the investigation was to examine whether the VCF management system has any potential for maintaining a resilient local livelihood system in the mountainous landscape of CHT. The investigation was conducted in 2016-2018 in 20 VCFs located in remote hill villages that consisted of sample surveys of floral and faunal diversity in the VCFs and questionnaire-based surveys involving respondents from the respective villages to explore the community management practices concerning resources available in the VCFs and the surrounding agricultural and aquatic ecosystems. The communities meticulously maintain harvesting of plant parts and animals considering the seasonality and reproductive potential of the species. They closely monitor their forestry operations in VCFs, for example, through sporadically maintaining old growth trees in their forests, and protecting tree vegetation in peaks and cliffs of hills, bushy plants in the sloping areas, and bamboo clumps in the foothills in order to sustain availability of water in local water bodies. They follow forest management regimes that help maintain a regulated tree harvesting and a sustained flow of organic matter in VCFs in order to maintain soil fertility both in forests and in the surrounding agricultural lands. The villagers observe that agricultural productivity and diversity of crop land races in areas where no community managed forests exist has been declining due to inadequate soil fertility and availability of water. However, communities lack proper knowledge for monitoring events of climate change that affect their landscapes. Resilience of the VCF landscapes that support both livelihood and ecosystem functions could be further improved through sharing of knowledge among the communities. Keywords: Biodiversity conservation, Landscape management, Sustainable forest management, Food systems, Agriculture. ID: 3483222

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