Achieving food and nutrition security in remote areas of the Chittagong Hill Tracts
Rural men and women in remote areas of the Chittagong Hill Tracts are now more positive about their future and their ability to resist future shocks to their agriculture-based livelihoods.
FAO project builds resilience of two remote rural communities to address chronic under-nutrition.
Running from February 2013 to June 2014, an FAO-implemented project successfully promoted an integrated household farming approach, based on quality seed production, and improved upland farming practices, fruit and vegetable production, poultry keeping and nutritional awareness. With support from the European Commission’s Humanitarian Aid and Civil Protection department (ECHO), FAO has worked with 6 200 men and women in the region to help reduce food insecurity, restore their livelihoods and strengthen their resilience to future shocks and stresses.
The Chittagong Hill Tracts (CHT) is a geographically and socio-culturally distinct region located in southeastern Bangladesh. Still scarred from more than two decades of political turmoil and civil unrest up to the signing of a Peace Accord in 1997, this area is home to a large number of small ethnic communities which have their own distinct traditions, languages and lifestyles. Large parts of the region are covered by rugged hills, which have made it unique in Bangladesh in terms of agricultural practices and livelihood patterns.
The project provided critical agricultural inputs (crops, horticulture, poultry); but the inputs were also an opportunity for an extensive capacity development to enhance agricultural production, diversification and sustainability – as well as nutritional awareness - to rural men and women. Women were the main target of horticulture and poultry interventions, considering the existing gender dynamics, and the different roles and responsibilities of men and women in the households of the CHT area.