Chittagong Hill Tracts
More actions
| Chittagong Hill Tracts | |
|---|---|
| Parvatya Chattagram | |
| ActiveRecorded as grown here since 2000 | |
| Hierarchy | |
| Gene Pool | South Asian Gene Pool |
| Growing Region | Indo-Burman Range |
| Geography | |
| Country | Bangladesh |
| Province/State | Chattogram Division |
| Districts | Khagrachhari District, Rangamati District, Bandarban District |
| Coordinates | 22.65, 92.18 |
| Landscape | |
| Area | 13,100 km² |
| Terrain | Approximately the three hill districts of Khagrachhari, Rangamati and Bandarban: hill ranges and valleys on the borders with Tripura, Mizoram and Myanmar |
| Climate | |
| Climate Type | Tropical monsoon |
| Seasons | Dry and cool November to March; hot April and May; monsoon June to October |
| Growing history | |
| Documentation | |
| Appellations | 0 |
| Accessions | 0 |
| Conservation | |
| Populations | none documented yet |
The Chittagong Hill Tracts are a landrace cannabis growing area in the hills of south-eastern Bangladesh, made up of the districts of Khagrachhari, Rangamati and Bandarban on the borders with the Indian states of Tripura and Mizoram and with Myanmar.[1] They are one of the growing areas of the Indo-Burman Range growing region. The United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime reported in 2005 that cannabis was still cultivated in the hill districts near Cox's Bazar, Bandarban, Khagrachhari and Rangamati, and that cultivation in the Chittagong Hill Tracts was said to be increasing.[2] Security forces destroyed cannabis fields in Matiranga upazila of Khagrachhari in a drive reported in January 2020, and police and the army destroyed fields in Guimara upazila of the same district in January 2024 and January 2025.[3][4][5]
Geography
The Chittagong Hill Tracts cover about 13,184 km², roughly a tenth of Bangladesh. They border Myanmar to the south-east, Tripura to the north, Mizoram to the east and Chittagong district to the west. The tract was divided in the early 1980s into the three districts of Rangamati, Khagrachhari and Bandarban.[1] The highest ground in Bangladesh, 1,280 m on the Saichal Range, is in Rangamati district.[6] Hossain and colleagues (2022) call the fold belt of Tripura and the Chittagong hills the outer Indo-Burman Ranges.[7]
The climate is tropical monsoon. Mean annual rainfall is nearly 2,540 mm in the north and east and 2,540 to 3,810 mm in the south and west; the dry, cool season runs from November to March and the monsoon from June to October. The hill soils are strongly acidic loams. Shifting cultivation (jhum) is practised on the hill slopes, and cotton, rice, tea and oilseeds are grown in the valleys between the hills.[1]
The area is drawn on the three hill districts, about 13,100 km².
History
Witnesses before the Indian Hemp Drugs Commission in 1893 spoke of wild hemp in the hills. One, a deputy magistrate, said that in the hill tracts of Chittagong wild hemp was called jamya or kaua ganja.[8] W. B. Oldham, the Commissioner of Chittagong, added to his assistant's evidence that wild hemp grew in the Chittagong Hill Tracts and that manufactured ganja was imported into the Hill Tracts, where Hindustani workmen and artificers wanted it.[9]
The Chittagong Hill Tracts Regulation of 1900 made it an offence to cultivate any plant from which ganja could be produced, or to import, possess or sell ganja, without a licence from the Deputy Commissioner. A person might keep three tolas of ganja for domestic use.[10]
Cultivation
UNODC's 2005 profile of Bangladesh gave no figure for the area under cannabis. It reported that the army and the Bangladesh Rifles in the south-eastern hills had found overall cannabis production to have increased significantly in recent years. Crop eradication did not appear to be systematic.[2]
In a drive reported on 2 January 2020, security forces destroyed cannabis fields on about 200 bigha in Matiranga upazila, Khagrachhari. The officer in charge of the Matiranga police station said that drug dealers had about 40 cannabis fields in the remote areas; no one connected with the fields was found.[3] In January 2024 the district police destroyed cannabis grown on about 3.5 acres in the Chowdhuripara area, 15 km from Guimara; they said a section of narcotics traders had grown it in the remote hills for commercial use.[4] In January 2025 the army found a field of two acres in the hills of Guimara upazila and burnt it; no one was detained. The army said that a syndicate of drug traders had long grown ganja in the remote hills.[5]
Uses
Traditional medical practitioners in Rangamati district make an oil from the leaves of the plant, which they call bhang or siddhi, to massage on the scalp for a schizophrenia-like illness. In severe cases they have the patient inhale a vapour of the leaves.[11]
Accessions
No accessions documented yet.
Recent news
No news items are recorded for the Chittagong Hill Tracts yet.
See also
References
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 "Chittagong Hill Tracts". Banglapedia: National Encyclopedia of Bangladesh. Asiatic Society of Bangladesh. Retrieved 20 October 2026.
- ↑ 2.0 2.1 United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime, Regional Office for South Asia (September 2005). "Bangladesh" (PDF). South Asia Regional Profile (Report). United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime.
- ↑ 3.0 3.1 "200 bigha cannabis fields destroyed in Khagrachari". The Business Standard. Dhaka. 2 January 2020. Retrieved 20 October 2026.
- ↑ 4.0 4.1 "Over 30,000kg marijuana destroyed in Khagrachhari". The Daily Star. Dhaka. 16 January 2024. Retrieved 20 October 2026.
- ↑ 5.0 5.1 "দুই একর জমিতে গোপনে গাঁজা চাষ, আগুনে পুড়িয়ে ধ্বংস" [Ganja grown in secret on two acres, destroyed by burning]. Prothom Alo (in Bengali). 21 January 2025. Retrieved 20 October 2026.
- ↑ "Bangladesh". Banglapedia: National Encyclopedia of Bangladesh. Asiatic Society of Bangladesh. Retrieved 20 October 2026.
- ↑ Hossain, Md. Sakawat; Ao, Songjian; Mondal, Tridib Kumar; Sain, Arnab; Khan, Md. Sharif Hossain; Xiao, Wenjiao; Zhang, Pengpeng (18 April 2022). "Understanding the Deformation Structures and Tectonics of the Active Orogenic Fold-Thrust Belt: Insights from the Outer Indo-Burman Ranges". Lithosphere. 2022 (1). 6058346. doi:10.2113/2022/6058346.
- ↑ Indian Hemp Drugs Commission (1894). "Evidence of Babu Gangadhar Roy, Kayasth, Deputy Magistrate and Deputy Collector". Report of the Indian Hemp Drugs Commission, 1893–94. Vol. IV: Evidence of Witnesses from Bengal and Assam. Calcutta: Office of the Superintendent of Government Printing, India. Bengal witness no. 48, p. 113 – via Internet Archive.
- ↑ Indian Hemp Drugs Commission (1894). "Evidence of Babu Jogmohan Bhattacharya, Deputy Magistrate and Deputy Collector and Personal Assistant to the Commissioner, Chittagong, with remarks by the Commissioner". Report of the Indian Hemp Drugs Commission, 1893–94. Vol. IV: Evidence of Witnesses from Bengal and Assam. Calcutta: Office of the Superintendent of Government Printing, India. Bengal witness no. 51, p. 119 – via Internet Archive.
- ↑ "The Chittagong Hill-tracts Regulation, 1900 (Regulation No. I of 1900), section 13: Intoxicating drugs". Laws of Bangladesh. Legislative and Parliamentary Affairs Division, Ministry of Law, Justice and Parliamentary Affairs. Retrieved 20 October 2026.
- ↑ Ahmed, M.N.; Azam, M.N.K. (2014). "Traditional knowledge and formulations of medicinal plants used by the traditional medical practitioners of Bangladesh to treat schizophrenia like psychosis". Schizophrenia Research and Treatment. 2014 679810. doi:10.1155/2014/679810.