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Reconnaissance Soil Survey of Chittagong Hill Tracts

H. Brammer
Agricultural Development Adviser
FAO-UNDP Project, SRDI, Dhaka, Bangladesh

Abstract/ Executive Summary:

The surveyed area comprises 3,894 square miles of Unclassed State Forest Land of the former Chittagong Hill Tracts District.Khagrachari, Rangamati and Bandarban districts. In 1981, the population was 746,026. Sixty percent of the populations are of tribal origin. Mean annual rainfall is 80-150 inches (2000-3000 mm). About 80% of rainfall is received between May and September. Consolidated and unconsolidated sandstones, siltstones and shales of tertiary age underlie the whole area. They have been folded, faulted and dissected to form mainly steeply sloping hills up to about 1000m (3000ft) MSL. Floodplain alluvium in valleys occupies less than 5% of the area. Hill soils are mainly brown, well drained, strongly acid, loamy sands to silty clays. They are mainly deep, but shallow soils occur over hard siltstones and sandstones. Nutrient status and moisture-holding capacity generally are low. Valley soils include brown loam on terraces and grey silts and clays on poorly drained land subject to seasonal flooding. The natural moist evergreen and deciduous forest has been almost entirely cleared and replaced by grasses and shrubs following repeated cycles of jhum (shifting) cultivation. Mixed crops of hill rice, maize, vegetables, gourds, spices, hill cotton and tobacco are grown for 2-3 years in the clearings. Fallow periods between successive clearings are only 3-6 years or less, resulting in considerable degradation of soils and vegetation. There is a little transplanted cultivation in valleys, partly with dry-season irrigation. Development possibilities are severely restricted by the prevalence of steep slopes and heavy monsoon rainfall which make communication difficult and restrict the kinds of crops.

Keywords: Hill Tracts, Reconnaissance, Soil survey

Location: Chittagong Hill Tracts districts

Start Date: 01-01-1964

End Date: 30-12-1986

Program Area: Crop-Soil-Water Management

Commodity: GIS

Objectives:

1.To identify, classify and describe the major kinds of soils occurring in CHTs;

2. To Prepare maps showing the distribution of these soils; and

3.To evaluate the properties of soils in terms of potentiality for improved use.

Methodology:

The fieldwork was undertaken between September 1964 and June 1965. The consultants used a total of 11 professional staff together with a helicopter pilot and a helicopter engineer. The team was assisted by national staff. The mapping of land use, landforms and soils was based on a combination of airphoto interpretation and field sampling. Field traverses were conducted mainly by helicopter. Soil samples were sent to laboratories in Canada and Holland for analysis of chemical and physical properties. The advice and assistance of a number of specialists from both Pakistan and Canada was used in resolving many specific problems of the survey. The compilation of maps and data, and report writing, were carried out in Vancouver, Canada, between August 1965 and June 1966. The results of the study were presented to the East Pakistan (now Bangladesh) Agricultural Development Corporation in May 1966. The report comprised seven volumes of text and two volumes of maps. Each volume of maps comprised a set of 31 coloured map sheets on 1:31,680 scale (1 inch=half a mile). The single-volume edition (1986) of the report contains a summary version of all the main sections covered in the seven volumes of text in the original report. No new fieldwork has been done to up-date the survey findings. But some of the administrative and population data of the present report have been brought up-to-date and the soils information has been presented in the form of soil association tables, as used in reconnaissance survey reports for other parts of Bangladesh.

Source of Information: Reconnaissance Soil Survey of Chittagong Hill Tracts 1964-65,Forestal; edition 1986, H. Brammer, reprint 2005, SRDI, Dhaka

Article Link (Online Journal):

Funding Source:

1. Government	Budget:
2. United Nations Development Project	Budget:
3. Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations	Budget:

Total Budget (Tk.) :

Achievement/Findings:

RSS is the first soil and land resource pool of the country. Besides SRDI, so far all kinds of soil and land resource maps and information reproduced from different institutions are based on the information included in RSS. It is experienced that RSS report includes major baseline information of the area concerned and one can overview an area relevant to natural resource management, potentials, limitations and generalized solution at planner level. The report is primarily intended for use by those responsible for economic and agricultural development planning at national, regional and district levels. It provides information on which policy decisions might be based regarding agricultural development by such means as irrigation, flood protection, drainage, use of fertilizers and introduction of alternative crops or methods of husbandry. For soil and agronomic specialists, it indicates different soil conditions which might require separate trials and also area over which results of such trials might confidently be expected to apply. The report is provided with soil association, land use, land capability and physiographic maps. The agricultural development possibilities by land capability subclasses are given in this report. The relative suitability of each soil for a number of common crops has been evaluated and tabulated.

Knowledge Management: Report/Proceedings