Rediscovering Bamboo

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E-Pao! Education - Rediscovering Bamboo

By: Aiyushman Dutta *

Bamboo is an enduring, versatile and renewable material, an integral part of our cultural, social and economic traditions. Millions of people depend on it for their livelihood. India is richly endowed with bamboo resources, with more than 120 million tonnes of growing stock on forest land, plantations and homesteads. The most visible uses of bamboo are in the every day lives of people.

Bamboo is used for fooding, housing, implements and household articles. The construction industry utilizes bamboo as scaffolding and ladders. Bamboo plantations enhance food security, assist in soil conservation and the reclamation of wasteland.

Bamboo has many new uses too, developed through the application of technology. These offer promise and potential for value addition, income and employment. It is an eco-friendly alternative, and amenable to simple processing technologies to produce high value products. Bamboo is in the process of being 'rediscovered' in India.

Bamboo, a fast growing, versatile woody grass is found across the country. It is an economic resource having immense potential for improving the quality of life of rural and urban communities with environment regeneration qualities like carbon sequestering. It is grown like any other horticultural crop by tilling the land and is harvested annually, when grown commercially.

A Bamboo flower blooms at Tamenglong.

Bamboo roots, leaves, sap and ash are being used since ancient times as a remedy for minor and major ailments, particularly in Ayurvedic health care. The world market for bamboo is valued at US $ 10 billion of which China's share alone is to the tune of 50%.

The Bamboo market is expected to reach about US $ 20 billion by 2015. The size of the domestic bamboo industry is estimated to be around Rupees Six Thousand Five hundred and five crores, which may grow to Rupees 26000 crores by the year 2015.

In the northeastern state of Meghalaya, Muli bamboo covers about 400 square kilometers of land. Bamboo is grown in Eight thousand two hundred and thirteen square kilometers of land in Assam.

There are 125 species of bamboo in India of which 90 species are found in the northeastern region under thirteen genera. The northeastern region has immense potentiality, therefore, of expanding bamboo cultivation in a phased manner, which could fetch returns of about rupees twenty thousand per acre.

Over 2.5 billion people all over the world are dependent on bamboo for their day to day lives. The Northeast of India alone represents 2/3 rd of the country's growing stock of bamboo which is estimated at Rupees Five thousand crores. The National Mission on bamboo technology and trade development has targeted the country's bamboo market to the United States of America at 5.3 billion dollars by the year 2015.

The domestic bamboo sector is plagued with many constraints like lack of scientific methods for propagation and cultivation, lack of post harvest treatment and technology for product development, inadequate trained manpower and inadequate infrastructure for large scale harvesting in the case of gregarious flowering.

Keeping in view the potential of Bamboo, its present poor market linkage and sub optimal level technology application for manufacture of value added products in the industrial and cottage sector, the National Mission on Bamboo Technology & Trade development has been mooted by Planning Commission to accord Bamboo development a strategic role in rural economy, Poverty alleviation and bamboo based handicrafts & industrial development. The Mission document also envisages the integration different Ministries/ Departments for the holistic development of the sector.

The Report, further, envisions an integrated programme expansion of plantations of bamboo species, its scientific management with the involvement of JFM committees, local initiatives and entrepreneurship for presenting this raw material for the Industries and assisting the Industry to access and apply modern technology for producing globally competitive new generation bamboo products.

The other features of the Mission include Technology Development and Transfer for Planting, Technology intervention on process and products including standards and codes, Handicraft development including training, Trade and Market Development for bamboo products, and Technology development for building material.

The economic and social benefits from these activities have been worked out as 8.6 million creation of jobs in the Tenth Plan, building up of 2 million bamboo resource and market opportunities worth Rupees 6500 crores with an investment of Rupees 2600 crores, enabling 5 million families of artisans and farmers to cross the poverty line.

As a result, the Cane and bamboo Technology Centre promoted by the North Eastern Council (NEC) and the Building Material Technology Promotion Council of the Union Ministry of Urban affairs have signed a Memorandum Of Understanding (MoU) for the promotion and sustainable development of bamboo resources in the northeast on June 10, 2004.

A bamboo technology mother park is to be set up in the region with facilities for primary and secondary processing of bamboo under one roof.

Let us take a look at the steps undertaken by the state governments of the northeast to promote bamboo utilisation:

Assam

Bamboo Sector

Bamboo has played an important part in the lives of the people of Assam, and has been an integral part of the cultural, social and economic traditions of the State. It is a renewable, flexible and versatile material, and an important component of the wealth of Assam.

It grows in natural forests, and is cultivated in homesteads, groves and on private plantations. It is utilised in many ways, for housing, fencing, functional articles, agricultural implements, basketry, and even fuel and food. People possess traditional skills of working with the material, and knowledge of the cultivation and management of bamboo.

Assam is a step ahead of the other northeastern states in developing bamboo potentialities. During the sixties, two units of paper mills of M/s Hindustan Paper Corporation Limited and one unit of M/s Ashok Paper Mills were established at Nagaon, Cachar and Jogighopa and all bamboo bearing forest areas were leased out to these paper mills for production of pulp and paper at concessional rates.

A 60,000 square metre per annum wood substitute and composite plant is coming up at Amingaon in Guwahati to manufacture flooring boards and furniture. The plant is estimated to cost 5.2 crore rupees. Another unit of shuttering material is to be set up to produce bamboo mats and curtains.

Processing and packaging of bamboo shoots will also be set up in Jorhat. The riverine island of majuli is also being benefited to a certain extent due to the bamboo plantation work, taken up in phases, which is being grown as a bid to protect the world's largest river island from continuous erosion by the river Brahmaputra.

Meghalaya

According to a recently published report, the Forest Department of Meghalaya is also mooting the idea of setting up a special bamboo sector in the state.

As per the report, the International Fund for agricultural Development (IFAD) is launching the "Expedition" project for livelihood Improvement to cost Rupees One hundred and Sixty three crore which will cover the Jaintia hills, East Khasi hills, Ribhoi, East Garo hills and South Garo hills of Meghalaya.

Sikkim

Sikkim is located in the Eastern Himalayan region with a geographical area of 7096 sq.km. Bamboo is one of the most important forest resources in Sikkim. Its wide range of uses and its great versatility qualifies it to be a multiple use alternative to timber, food to the rural poor and tribal in particular.

The main genera found in the State are Arundinaria, Bambusa, Cephalostachyum, Dendrocalamus, Phyllostachys etc. Bamboo are usually found in the moist valleys, sheltered depressions, along the streams and the lower hill slope of the Sal forests, moist deciduous forests, wet temperature forests and sub-alpine coniferous forests of the State.

The cultivation of Bamboos in rural areas is restricted to margins of watercourses in the agriculture sector, corner or borders of dry farming lands of field bunds and homesteads. Some important Bamboo species occurring in the State are as under ( courtesy TIFAC):

Species

Arundinaria mailing Gambel (Arundinaria recemosa)
Arundinaria Suberects munro
Bambusa nutans wall
Bambusa Pallida munro
Bambusa tulda Roxb
Bambusa vulgaris schard
Cephalostachyum capitatum Var.decomposita
Cephalostachyum fuchsianum Gamble
Cephalostachyum latifornum Gamble
Cephalostachyum hookernia Gamble
Cephalostachyum intermedia (A intermedia Munro)
Cephalostachyum Polystachya
Demdracalamum hamlintoniii
Dendrocalamus hookery
Dendrocalamus Patellaries Gamble
Dendrocalamus Sikkimensia Gamble
Neohouzeous dullooa (Teinostachyum dollooa)
Pseudostachyum polymorphum Munro
Semiarundinaria patingli
Thanocalmus aristatus (Arundinaria aristata)
Teinostychyum falconeri
Phyllostanchys edulis
Chimnobambusa quadrangularis
Cephalastachuyum hookeriana
Thamanocalamus aristatus
Pseudostachyum polymorophum

SIKKIM

The Government of Sikkim is also taking some important steps to utilize bamboo to its fullest. Promoting cultivation of bamboo in private, non-forest and agricultural areas would be facilitated if the regulations on cutting, transport and use of bamboos under the Forests laws are relaxed and better return and market to the development of bamboos.

The Access and Regulatory regime, vide Circular no. 12/F/FEWD dated 4.4.2001, had withdrawn the royalty imposed on villagers for bamboo for their bonafide use. The state government had again modified the Access and Regulatory regime w.e.f. 1st April 2004 and as of now, the Access and Regulatory regime stands as follows :

1. For bonafide use by villagers from private holding, it would be free of royalty and for commercial sale / Industrial use, the existing rate of royalty would continue. Those villagers / persons who are the members of JFMCs / EDC's and have actively been involved in bamboos from their private holdings on sale.

2. For bamboos extracted from the forest areas, the existing rate of royalty would continue.

3. All transit permits for bamboo within state shall be issued by the Divisional Forest Officer (T) concerned after the verification report from the concerned Range and Panchayats as per the (i) & (ii) above.

4. The export of bamboos and bamboo product out side the state shall be permitted on the existing rate of royalty and the export license and permit would be issued by the office of the Conservator of Forest (Territorial). The License fee charged shall be the rate of royalty of bamboo as per the quantity of license required by the licensee per year.

Almost all the state governments of the northeast are taking active interest in utilising bamboo to its fullest.

The same will go a long way in earning the much needed revenue for the northeast apart from helping check the menace of gregarious bamboo flowering which sees a marked increase of the rat population.

Rediscovering this age old and beneficial natural resource should be on the priority list of the concerned governments.

Aiyushman Dutta is a development journalist presently based in New Delhi.
Having his roots in the northeast, he regularly contributes to many local news dailies and magazines of the northeast.
He can be reached at [email protected]
This article was webcasted on May 11th, 2006

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