Bamboo in Orissa: Trade and Livelihood Perspective - Vasundhara

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price of the products also, like the basket earlier sold at Rs.80/piece was now priced at
Rs.220.
The products are also bartered for rice or paddy. For ex., in Sahada village a basket worth
Rs.70-80 is bartered for 5 gaunis of paddy(i.e., approx.21 kg).
Importance in livelihood
In Nilakanthapur, the artisans earn Rs.4000 to 5000 per family per annum from cane-work
which is almost equal to the earning from the other source of income for them, i.e., wage
labour. Had the raw material scarcity not been there, and the demand of traditional caneproducts
had not reduced, they could have earned much more from this source than wage
labour. Artisans of Kendrapati, who work both on bamboo and cane, claim that if bamboo
products can fetch them Rs.6000 per year, cane products can fetch almost double.
In Talabasta, more than 25 workers depend on full-time cane work round the year. Cane
work started in this village when Panchanan Moharana got a training under a govt
programme, and imparted his skill to others. It is interesting to note that unlike other areas,
Moharana and his fellow-workers belong to the upper caste(other backward caste), and
they don't need to work on bamboo since cane work has proved itself to be more than
sufficient for them as they are unable to meet the market demand. Each artisan earns about
Rs.2500 to 3000 per month, and the factor facilitating the higher income is the
manufacturing of heavier and costlier items like furnitures.
Cane artisans also work as non-resident labourers. People who need sufficient quantity of
gauni,mana, etc. for use in family marriage or some religious functions, prefer to employ
artisans in making these products for them. Such employers either purchase the raw
materials, or have cane on their own lands. The artisans charge Rs.100-120 per day per
person, and food is provided extra.
The number of artisans depending on cane is not known, but one thing is clear that their
distribution is extremely sporadic and the number is quite insignificant as compared to that
of bamboo artisans. In Kendrapati, 20 to 25 HHs are bamboo artisans and only 10 to 12
HHs among them also work on cane. In Belabani, only two out of 70 artisan HHs work on
this. The number is controlled by availability of the raw material and demand of the
product, and the total number of cane artisans in the state seems to be less than 5% of that
of the bamboo artisans.
Women are usually found to have an equal share in cane work like their male companions
except in raw material collection and works like bending thicker culms for frame-making,
which is considered to be a man’s job. In Talabasta, they have formed self-help group to
market the product.
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