The lives and cultures of ethnic communities in Chattogram Hill Tracts, which includes some of Bangladesh’s most beautiful tourist attractions, are intrinsically impacted by jhum cultivation. In CHT, about 20,000 hectares of “jhum land” is cultivated every year.

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Jhum is a type of shifting cultivation in hilly areas. In this method, crops are cultivated mainly by cutting and burning the vegetation on the slopes of hills.

Farmers cut trees and bushes and burn those to prepare the topsoil for cultivation during the Bangla months of Falgun and Chaitra.

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During the months of Baishakh and Jaishtha, jhum farmers dig holes on the slopes and sow seeds of paddy, pumpkin, cotton, sesame, maize, vegetables and other crops.

These photos of jhum cultivation were taken at Chimbuk Hill, 26 km away from Bandarban Sadar.