Rubber and Its Impacts on Local People and Environment in Bandarban
* Rubber and its impacts on local people and environment in Bandarban
La Jhan Aung, 55, who lived in a village called Badurjhiri with his wife and four sons. He was an average Chak. But one event changed his life completely. On March 19, 2013, some group of men forced them out of their home town violently. The robber broke their home and took what little property they had. Not being able to resist they had to seek refuge at a union called Baishary. Now sadly after moving to Baishary, he is now a simple day-labor. He only earns 300 taka per day which is not enough for his family to run.
Another one whose name is Aung Sai Heo (42), he also used to live in Badurjhiri village with his wife and six sons. He cultivated Jhum and Turmeric. But after the big robbery, he had to leave the village as well. He moved to Chak para in Baishary Union. After moving here he faced a lot of problem because he could not find a job. This is the season to cultivate Turmeric. But he cannot cultivate it in proper time. The only reason is safety. If he goes back to the village, he could be killed by the robbers.
There are a lot of people who moved from that village by force like the two people mentioned above. Why are these people forced to move? The answer is people’s desire to cultivate rubber. Rubber cultivation is a farm or large piece of land where rubber plants are grown. It is a highly land-intensive investment so that in Bangladesh which has serious land limitations, only those pieces of land which is not used for production of food can be made available for rubber cultivation. Commercial cultivation of rubber in Bangladesh still remains as an unresolved issue, because of decrease in productive land and growing population pressure and several farmers who want to take back part of the land for crop production.
To gain land for cultivate the rubber some villages had been completely destroyed. So the people basically Chak, were forced to moved to other places. One of the
La Jhan Aung, 55, who lived in a village called Badurjhiri with his wife and four sons. He was an average Chak. But one event changed his life completely. On March 19, 2013, some group of men forced them out of their home town violently. The robber broke their home and took what little property they had. Not being able to resist they had to seek refuge at a union called Baishary. Now sadly after moving to Baishary, he is now a simple day-labor. He only earns 300 taka per day which is not enough for his family to run.
Another one whose name is Aung Sai Heo (42), he also used to live in Badurjhiri village with his wife and six sons. He cultivated Jhum and Turmeric. But after the big robbery, he had to leave the village as well. He moved to Chak para in Baishary Union. After moving here he faced a lot of problem because he could not find a job. This is the season to cultivate Turmeric. But he cannot cultivate it in proper time. The only reason is safety. If he goes back to the village, he could be killed by the robbers.
There are a lot of people who moved from that village by force like the two people mentioned above. Why are these people forced to move? The answer is people’s desire to cultivate rubber. Rubber cultivation is a farm or large piece of land where rubber plants are grown. It is a highly land-intensive investment so that in Bangladesh which has serious land limitations, only those pieces of land which is not used for production of food can be made available for rubber cultivation. Commercial cultivation of rubber in Bangladesh still remains as an unresolved issue, because of decrease in productive land and growing population pressure and several farmers who want to take back part of the land for crop production.
To gain land for cultivate the rubber some villages had been completely destroyed. So the people basically Chak, were forced to moved to other places. One of the