Management of agricultural systems of the upland of Chittagong hill tracts for sustainable food security
This study presents the patterns and determinants of agricultural systems of the Hill Tracts of Chittagong, and modeling of food security and environmental degradation, and climate change impacts. Multivariate analysis based on multi-stage stratified sampling shows that the observed 18 variables can be explained by 6 principal components, which explain 76.69% of total variability while these observed variables can be explained by 4 factors, which explain 77.21% of total variability. Agricultural systems are also classified. Food security at upazila level is good, but the environmental status is poor for all the upazilas mainly due to jhum (shifting agriculture) and tobacco cultivation. The model developed predicts that the best option is gradual transition of jhum land into horticulture crops.