Bamboo Production in India

Bamboo Production in India

Bamboo is an enduring natural resource and provides income, food, and housing to over 2.2 billion people worldwide. There is need for improving the livelihood of forest dwellers and generating employment through the bamboo development programme. India has huge natural bamboo stocks that have been an integral part of Indian culture for many millennia.

Bamboo in many ways is the mainstay of the rural Indian economy, sparking considerable social and ecological spin-offs. In the early part of the century, large tracts of bamboo occurred in many parts of the country but were treated by forestry sector (which was then cast in a production forestry mode) as a weed of little economic value and were used mostly by the rural communities for crafts, making implements and as housing material. It was the discovery of bamboo as a source of long-fibre by the Forest Research Institute in Dehradun that started the process of using bamboo in a variety of industrial applications, so far unexplored, with several paper mills and rayon mills being set up. But in the absence of a clear policy of husbanding of the resource there was rapid degradation and decimation of the resource in much of the country.

Bamboo resources plummeted so alarmingly that at present the resource is limited to few pockets in the country. Two-thirds of the bamboo in the country is restricted to the seven states of North-Eastern Region (NER) while the remaining one-third is spread across the country. But there is hope for the resurgence of bamboo based on evidence of significant new and contemporary economic opportunities that have emerged over the past decade. A bamboo revolution that holds the potential of reversing economic downturns and ensuring profitability is very much possible. 

Bamboo is an untapped avenue of economic growth and a burgeoning bamboo sector can rope in prosperity, profits, and sustainable livelihoods. The rapid increase in greenhouse gases in the atmosphere, land degradation, increasing floods and droughts, deforestation, loss of biodiversity and productivity are leading to an ecological crisis affecting livelihood options for development, increasing poverty, pollution and unsustainable development.

As the poor ultimately bear the brunt of these adversities, scientific management and augmentation of natural resources has to be given the highest priority in development. This suggests, inter alia, a policy to actively encourage and support plantation of those species which contribute most to overcome these constraints. In this scenario, Bamboo stands as an ideal species capable of achieving conservation of soil and moisture, repair of degraded land, besides ecological, food and nutritional livelihood and economic security because of its manifold uses and industrial applications rendered possible by advances in technology.

Bamboo is a group of perennial evergreens in the true grass family Poaceae, subfamily Bambusoideae, tribe Bambuseae. Giant bamboos are the largest members of the grass family. In bamboo, as with other grasses, the inter-nodal regions of the plant stem are hollow and the vascular bundles in the cross section are scattered throughout the stem instead of in a cylindrical arrangement. The dicotyledonous woody xylem is also absent. The absence of secondary growth wood causes the stems of monocots, even of palms and large bamboos, to be columnar rather than tapering.

There are more than 70 genera divided into about 1,450 species. They are found in diverse climates; from cold mountains to hot tropical regions. They occur across East Asia, from 50°N latitude in Sakhalin through to Northern Australia, and west to India and the Himalayas. They also occur in sub-Saharan Africa, and in the Americas from the Mid-Atlantic United States south to Argentina and Chile, reaching their southernmost point anywhere, at 47°S latitude. Continental Europe is not known to have any native species of bamboo.

Unlike trees, all bamboo has the potential to grow to full height and girth in a single growing season of 3 to 4 months. During this first season, the clump of young shoots grows vertically, with no branching. In the next year, the pulpy wall of each culm slowly dries and hardens. The culm begins to sprout branches and leaves from each node. During the third year, the culm further hardens. The shoot is now considered a fully mature culm. Over the next 2–5 years (depending on species), fungus and mould begin to form on the outside of the culm, which eventually penetrate and overcome the culm. Around 5 to 8 years later (species and climate dependent), the fungal and mold growth cause the culm to collapse and decay. This brief life means culms are ready for harvest and suitable for use in construction within 3 to 7 years.

Bamboo is the fastest-growing woody plant on Earth; it has been measured surging skyward as fast as 121 cm (48 in) in a 24-hour period due to a unique rhizome-dependent system. However, this astounding growth rate is highly dependent on local soil and climatic conditions. Many prehistoric bamboos exceeded heights of 85 metres (279 ft). Primarily growing in regions of warmer climates during the Cretaceous period, vast fields existed in what is now Asia. Bamboos are of notable economic and cultural significance in East Asia and South East Asia where the stems are used extensively in everyday life as building materials and as a highly versatile raw product, and the shoots as a food source.

Despite the severe degradation of the resource in the past, India still has a considerable growing stock of bamboo, and comparative annual harvest figures still place India at the top of the global league. India ranks second in the world in bamboo diversity with 136 species, while China with 300 species is leading in genetic diversity of bamboo. Out of this, 58 species belonging to 10 genera are found in the North-Eastern region. As per estimates, 8.96 million ha forest area of the country contains bamboo amounting to 12.8 per cent of the forest cover. In addition, 1.75m hectares of bamboo area are outside the natural forest area.  India has the largest bamboo forests in the world. Two-third of the growing stock of the bamboo in India is in the seven North-Eastern States. The states having major growing stocks of bamboo are Assam – 16 per cent, Manipur and Mizoram 14 per cent each, Madhya Pradesh and Arunachal Pradesh 12 per cent each. Bamboo, which is referred as minor forest produce in classical forestry, is the most important sub-sector being a source of raw material to many industries such as pulp and paper, rayon, and fiberboard industry and has been critical in the forest-based industrial development. It is also essential ingredient of the subsistence economy of bamboo-dependent sectors of population, tribal and forest dwellers, bamboo craftsman and artisans, and local rural people.

Bamboo forests of India are dominated by species of bamboo that are clump-forming, and these species account for 67.3per cent of the total growing stock. The two dominant species are Dendrocalamus strictus and Bambusa bambos, accounting for 45per cent and 13per cent of the growing stock. The main species of non-clump forming bamboo is Melocanna bambusoides accounting for 20per cent of the growing stock, but mainly in northeastern states.

The total growing stock in forest areas is 80.42 million tonnes, and average growing stock works out to be 10 tonnes per hectare. The annual harvest from the recorded sources is about 4.5 million tonnes which is about 6 per cent of the growing stock. But there are unrecorded removals accounting nearly half of the quantity of removals by recorded sources. The yield of bamboo per hectare varies between 0.2 and 4.0 ton with an average of 0.33 ton per hectare. Bamboo and fibre workers are the third largest group of artisans

India is different from other bamboo-producing Asian countries because bulk of bamboo consumption is not by artisans but by industries that use bamboo for paper and rayon, scaffolding, and bamboo boards. The continuous increase in the installed capacity of industrial units for paper and board, and increased demand from urban constructions for scaffolding had put an enormous pressure on bamboo forests, and sufferers have been the local people whose survival depends on these forests.

Forests, in India, being in the state list of subjects for long time, and now in the concurrent list for the last two decades, different states have diverse provisions for the use of bamboo, which is mainly the allocation to industries and local artisans and other people. However, the main elements of these policies are similar. In the last two decades, there has been a drastic change in forest policy and the orientation of forest management in India.

The 1988 forest policy of India emphasized the peoples' participation in forest management and a shift from support to industries to the right of weaker sections. The 1988 Forest Policy of India, the second forest policy of independent India, is a clear departure from its first forest policy of 1952. The policy has very clear directions on these three main issues, which are related to this project, are the rights of the local forest-dependent people, involvement of the people in forest management, and supply of raw material to forest industries.

The policy recognizes that the life of tribals and other poor people living within and near forests revolves around forests, and, hence, the rights and concessions enjoyed by them should be fully protected. The domestic requirements of these groups of fuel wood, fodder, minor forest produce, and construction timber should be the first charge on forest produce. These and substitute materials should be made available through conveniently located depots at reasonable prices.

In addition, these holders of customary rights and concessions in forest areas should be motivated to identify themselves with the protection and development of forests from which they derive benefits. The rights and concessions from forests should primarily be the bonafide use of the communities living within and around forest areas, specifically the tribals.

On the industrial raw material end, policy states that the practice of supply of forest produce to industry at concessional rates should cease. A forest-based industry should raise the raw material needed for meeting its own requirements. It should, preferably, be done by establishment of direct relationship between factory and the individuals who can grow the material by supporting the individuals with inputs including credit, constant technical service, and finally harvesting and transport services.

In the 1988 Forest policy, the emphasis was on the motivation of people, holders of customary rights and concessions, to associate themselves with the protection and development of forests. The Government of India, in its order of June 1 1990 as a follow up of the 1988 forest policy, emphasized that the areas to be selected for the program should be free from the claims (including existing rights, privileges, concessions) of any person who is not a beneficiary under the scheme.

 In this order no where it was mentioned that only degraded forestland should be selected for the involvement of village communities, however, the subject of the order was the involvement of village communities and voluntary agencies for regeneration of degraded forestlands. As a follow up of the GOI order, more than 20 states have issued the government orders about involvement of village communities in forest management. However, these state governments took the stand that the involvement of village communities is limited only to the degraded forests. As a consequence, the government orders of seventeen states have explicitly limited the provisions of joint forest management to degraded forestlands.

 However,there are three exceptions - Punjab, Nagaland, and Uttar Pradesh. In the state of Punjab, all government, private, and community forests are included, in Nagaland, non-government land that can be put to forestry/virgin forests and government lands are included. In the case of Uttar Pradesh, only village forests that are not governed by U.P. Panchyat Forest Rules 1976 are included. Hence, the state government orders, in general, have not followed the spirit of the 1988 Forest Policy of involving the forest dependent people in forest management, but the focus has become on using the local people for the protection and rehabilitation of degraded forests.

Forests are classified degraded on the basis of canopy cover. Since most of the species of bamboo are clump-forming, and only few culms are harvested from a bamboo clump at a time. Normally, forests containing bamboo does not fall under the category of degraded forests even when the condition of bamboo clumps may be bad due to past mismanagement of these forests. Hence, due to the limitation of JFM to degraded forestlands, bamboo areas have almost been excluded from the involvement of local communities in forest management. Therefore, the provisions of the 1988 Forest Policy have not been extended, in general, to bamboo forests.

Other provision of these JFM state government orders related to bamboo is the distribution of benefits to the community members. Even though, these provisions have wide variation across the states. But, one of the common features is the distribution of non-timber forest products, normally free of cost or in some states at very nominal prices. But, most of the state government orders, except Madhya Pradesh and Rajasthan, are not clear on the issue of inclusion of bamboo in the category of non-timber forest products.

The JFM Government Order (GO) of Madhya Pradesh, issued in 1991 and amended in 1998, clearly mentions that community members will be entitled for all non-nationalized non-timber forest products including bamboo free of cost, collection rights for nationalized NTFPs, and 30 per cent income from fuel-wood obtained from main fellings. Similarly, the G.O. of Rajasthan, issued in 1991, is explicit that community members are entitled of all NTFPs except bamboo free of cost. In other states, forest managers, normally, follow their conservative approach, and exclude bamboo from NTFPs for the purpose of joint forest management. Hence, the spirit of the National Forest Policy of 1988 regarding the first right of local people on forest products, specifically bamboo, is not being followed in forest areas which have been brought under joint forest management.

 NATIONAL BAMBOO MISSION:

The National Bamboo Mission is envisaged to promote the growth of the bamboo sector in the country through area based regionally differentiated strategies. It is a centrally sponsored scheme commenced in 2006-07 with 100 per cent assistance. The area under bamboo will be increased by planting appropriate varieties of bamboo to enhance its production and productivity, to promote marketing of bamboo and bamboo based handicrafts, to generate employment opportunities for skilled and unskilled persons, especially unemployed youths.

Nearly 105508 ha has been covered under bamboo plantation, 30167 ha of existing stock has been treated with productivity improvement and 1104 nurseries have been established for supply of planting material and 29831 farmers/entrepreneurs/field functionaries have been trained to raise quality bamboo plantation and in marketing of bamboo produce so far. NBM now plans to extend the mission to the development of handicrafts and marketing of bamboo.

The proposed interventions in the mission include the four major areas of bamboo development viz. research, plantation development, handicrafts development and marketing. Cooperatives, self-help groups, incorporated companies, State Government undertakings will be involved for ensuring proper delivery.

The plantation activities will be undertaken in compact areas so that the impact of the mission becomes visible. Quality planting material of bamboo will be produced through centralized/decentralized nurseries besides through tissue culture laboratories for plantation both in the forest and non-forests areas.

A National Level Apex Committee is providing overall guidance, monitoring and review. A National Steering Committee was empowered to approve state specific proposals. Various Committees was also be set up at state and District levels for formulation, implementation and overall co-ordination of programmes under the National Bamboo Mission. For achieving the objectives of the Mission, it will be necessary for the States to remove restrictions coming in the way of development of bamboo, including amendment to the State Transit Rules under Indian Forest Act, 1927 to facilitate cultivation, felling and transport of bamboo and bamboo based products. A dialogue in this regard will be held with the States and an appropriate mechanism will be evolved for facilitating the said activities.

Bamboo Plantation activities over 5 years would generate about 50.4 million man days of work. In the nursery sector, total estimated employment to be generated every year will be around 9.7 lakh man days. Besides this, there will be employment generation in both skilled and unskilled segments in the handicraft sector. Bamboo was the fastest growing plant on this planet and provides the best canopy for the greening of degraded lands. Some species of bamboo grow as much as 4 feet a day. Its stands release 35 per cent more oxygen than equivalent stands of trees. Bamboo can also lower light intensity and protects against ultraviolet rays. Bamboo was harvested and replenished with no impact to the environment. It can be selectively harvested annually and is capable of complete regeneration without the need to replant.

National Bamboo Mission has been successful in promoting bamboo, especially in the North East, and generating employment for skilled and unskilled youth. The mission had developed specific strategies for different regions. It was promoting bamboo-related activities in different spheres, namely, research and development, new bamboo plantations, establishment of nurseries, rejuvenation of old plantations, disease and pest management, bamboo marketing, and export, improved technologies for bamboo production and processing were available in many countries and India can benefit from them.

It is important to realize the considerable latent potential that bamboo has to contribute to economic growth, poverty alleviation, generating employment, rehabilitating vast tracts of degraded land generated due to past agricultural and industrial practices and policies, and revitalizing the social, economic and ecological well-being of rural economies. In line with this, goals should be aimed to focus on recovering the resource lost to the rural poor, as it has been a natural capital that has helped them to keep their economies afloat even in times of significant cash crunches. Attempts should be made to replenish bamboo stocks, make it economically beneficial to rural communities in a way that it provides them opportunities to earn a sustainable income and improve their standard of living. Efforts should also be made to increase the economic opportunity from the use of bamboo as an industrial raw material, to raise employment opportunities (especially for the educated and unemployed rural youth), and to rehabilitate the degraded lands across the country (making available and productive a natural resource which is increasingly becoming scarce and expensive).