Remote Kwatha making its presence felt through Soibum
Source: Hueiyen News Service

Imphal, May 04, 2013: Though tucked away in a remote corner of the State, 129 km away from the State Capital, Imphal and 20 km from the border town of Moreh, the tiny Kwatha village with only around 60/70 households is making its presence felt throughout the State through production of finest Soibum (fermented Bamboo shoots) which are selling like hot cakes in the markets of Kakching and Khwairamband.

Apart from the historical importance of the place, people of Kwatha, though hard working, have always live life the hardest way until they took up the profession of manufacturing Soibum full time.

Villagers revealed that they were earlier residents of a place known as Lairamlok Nungaiton.

From there, they migrated to Kwatha, which got its name from the event of planting Areca nut trees (Kwa+ Thaba= Kwatha) by the Awas (Burmese) to commemorate signing of an accord between the then King of Manipur Kiyamba and his Burmese counterpart.

Though belonging to Meetei community, the lifestyle and means of livelihood of the people in Kwatha was no different from any other tribal community in the State.

Poor transportation and other means of communication, people of Kwatha have also remained cut off from the rest of the world for a greater part of the history.

So, since early days, hunting, jhum cultivation; farming; cutting of trees in jungles for domestic and commercial purposes used to be predominant professions of the people.

Later, they embarked on fermenting bamboo shoots and it has now become their main source of income.

On their thriving activities of fermenting bamboo shoots, the villagers explained that soon after the rainy season ends and the new bamboo shoots sprout up, they started collecting the tender bamboo shoots from the nearby jungles.

This activity normally lasts for a week or even a month.

After accumulating the required bamboo shoots, the fermentation process commences either at home or in the jungle itself.

From the beginning of January till the end of September, the finished product is taken to the markets for selling.

Earlier the villagers used to trudge long distance on foot to reach the nearest market for selling their Soibum due to poor transport and communication facilities.

But with improvement in road connectivity, traders from Kakching and other places, who understand the worth of Soibum made by people of Kwatha, have themselves started coming to village to purchase Soibum in bulk.

Interestingly, with Kakching being the main market place where one can find the authentic Soibum made in Kwatha, some unscrupulous traders have put the label of �Kwatha-Soibum� to any fermented bamboo shoot product sold to gullible buyers.

Not only in Kakching, Soibum and other edible bamboo products from Kwatha have huge demand in other markets of the State including Khwairamband at Imphal.

In order to meet this growing demand of Soibum made in Kwatha and to ensure its supply throughout the year, each household in Kwatha fermented not less than 3-4 granaries of Soibum annually and every household member is involved in the occupation.

As disclosed by villagers, they usually packed 90 kg of Soibum in rice bag and sold it for around Rs 900-950.But once the same product reaches the markets, one kg of Soibum, which would cost just Rs 30 to 40 at Kwatha, would fetch not less than Rs 100 .

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