The main ethnic group of the Chitwan region is the Tharu , a hard-working and peace-loving people who have lived alongside the jungle for hundreds of years. Their life revolves around farming the land and caring for their animals. The Tharu people are dependent upon the park and the resources it provides in order to live in self-sustainability. They build their houses, baskets, mats and all sorts of equipment needed for their work, from the grasses they cut from the park during January. All their food is grown in their own fields yielding crops of maize, rice, lentil, potato, wheat, mustard and many kinds of vegetable.