“On the one hand you have the rats who have taken much of the rice and on the other hand there is the increasing tension, leaving the market places empty”
Perched in a teashop deep in the Chittagong Hill Tracts (CHT), Bangladesh, Yvonne Cuppens hears many stories about the food insecurity currently facing people here. The Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) Project Coordinator is in the Sajek Union area to support a nutritional project, following concerning levels of food insecurity being found in the area. The roots of the crisis recall a dark local tale; around every fifty years the flowering of a certain bamboo produces fruits that cause swathes of rats to flourish. Finished with the fruit, the rats go on to devour rice stocks, the main staple of people’s diets. Whilst the lack of rice has impacted on people’s nutrition, the situation is much more complex than solely a plague of fat and fertile rats. Rising tensions, a sense of apprehension and empty market places are a major cause of concern, as Yvonne explains…
Hong Kong doctor, Yvonne Chan, provides training to national health workers on nutritional treatment. Bangladesh, July 2008.
Photo by Hoo Lai Ting
"The CHT is made up of steep green hills laced together by numerous rivers, making it notoriously difficult to traverse. Its population is ethnically diverse; home to thirteen ethnic minority groups - tribes with heritages that long pre-date Bangladesh’s current borders, it also comprises increasing numbers of Bengali settlers who come from other parts of Bangladesh. Most striking about arriving in CHT is the huge military presence. All our movements have to be submitted to the military in advance and are monitored at different checkpoints.
MSF has worked in CHT before and are aware of the challenge that getting around presents, not least when the rainy season begins in May. Therefore, considering the increased level of food insecurity and 13% global acute malnutrition in children under-5 years, we promptly began a nutritional programme in April 2008, with support from the European Commission's Humanitarian Aid Office (ECHO). Aimed at preventing the situation from worsening and caring for those already affected, we set up a health clinic and eight outposts; delivering therapeutic feeding and healthcare services. Our clinic is supported by an inpatient centre for treating severely malnourished children and a lab service for tests such as malaria. In addition, we began distributing essential foods such as oil, fish paste and salt to around 28,000 people – continued by WFP who also distributed rice in June, July and August.
‘With no rice left the rats got so hungry that they even ate the soap’, one of our local staff members told me. The rats flourish during the time of Mautam – the local expression for the flowering of the bamboo. They eat the bamboo fruits and become highly reproductive, consuming much of the available food. This meant that people were left with little or no rice, the main staple of their diets. Most people in CHT follow a practice known as jhum cultivation where they grow their own rice for around 3-6 months each year. In amongst the rice are also grown cash crops such as turmeric and ginger that provide people with the money to support themselves during the non-cultivation periods. Fortunately, the rats did not attack the cash crops to such a large extent and a few people have even managed to plant some rice for the coming harvest. But the problem does not end with the rats.
Sat in a teashop being offered banana and other fruits it can be difficult to understand exactly why food insecurity is so bad here. That is until you appreciate that there are other factors at play. Along with the fact that rice alone is considered proper food, some markets currently stand empty due to increased fears and boycotting. The surviving cash crops are all but useless if there is nowhere to sell them and purchase other food. Recent months have seen tensions rising throughout society based on a complicated web of frictions between the long-standing Tribal groups, the more recently arrived (and arriving) Bengali settlers, the large Government military presence and local opposition groups. The area has a long history of unrest and the growing population seems to be exacerbating ongoing disputes over land and property rights. For everyone, land means the ability to feed one's family and to earn a living. For the tribal groups it is also a matter of identity. Regardless of their origin, people throughout society seem more concerned about the social unease than they do the rats.
This complex situation meant that by mid-July we were caring for around 300 moderately malnourished children, providing them with high calorie therapeutic food, although thankfully the number of severely malnourished children has remained low. Our clinic and health posts are also busy with medical consultations. In one location alone (we work in a total of nine locations) we see around 200 patients per week and predominantly treat cases of diarrhoea, chest infections and malaria. Overall the nutritional situation seems to be stabilising – the general food distributions now administered by WFP seem to be having a positive impact and the next harvest is approaching in November. As a result, MSF is preparing to end its nutritional programme in the coming months.
However, our concern for the people of CHT continues, especially in light of the tense circumstances and for this reason, we continue to closely monitor the situation and are ready to respond if and when necessary."