Bamboo in Orissa: Trade and Livelihood Perspective - Vasundhara

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While the concerned authorities at Forest Department headquarters at Bhubaneswar have
not been able to clarify the stand of the govt regarding bamboo cutting operations in JFM
areas, it has been reported from Athagarh Forest Division that at Khajuria under
Narsinghpur East Range a system was adopted according to which the bamboo harvested
by the VSS members was auctioned, and both the expenses as well as the income were
shared by the Forest Department and the VSS committee at 50:50 ratio (per comm..,
Kishore Kumar Parida).
The Khajuria model
Maa Bauti Vana Samrakshan Samiti(VSS) was formed in Khajuria in 1994, but villagers had
themselves started protecting the local forest by 1991 after they found the same heavily degraded
under the pressure of several villages. The area under their protection now is part(252.5 acres) of
the Debhuin RF and 47.5 acres of the Madara khesra forest. Bamboo clumps, mostly of salia, are
concentrated almost in the RF part.
In 1998, gregarious flowering was observed in the bamboo forest; so necessity was felt for the
felling of the affected clumps(7821 salia and 8534 daba). This was followed by uprooting of
several clumps(223 salia and 558 daba) in the 1999 super-cyclone. The villagers wanted the Forest
Department to facilitate the harvesting and marketing of these clumps/culms during 2000-01, but
the latter first approached OFDC with a proposal for harvesting and got a negative response as the
Corporation said flowered culms would not be economical. The villagers were getting impatient,
particularly after some traders approached them to purchase the bamboo. Hence, in a resolution
adopted on 28-4-01, the 'villagers' decided that since Forest Department was difficult to be
motivated, private traders would be allowed to harvest and purchase the bamboo on their own in
lieu of a payment @Rs.2000/truckload, to the VSS. There was no quantitative specification for a
truckload. Moreover, certain other decisions were quite controversial (like, sharing of some
expenses by the VSS). After our interaction with the villagers, it was quite clear that the resolution
was adopted without proper consultation with the whole village, and few individuals designed the
whole thing, being unclear about the market price of bamboo(long). There were four traders who
were to purchase the bamboo, and they paid Rs.4000 towards advance. However, there was some
conflict among them after which they did not turn up in time; hence the help of Forest Department
was again felt necessary. The local DFO then approached the PCCF who in turn allowed, in 2003,
to work out and auction the bamboo. The VSS agreed to share both the expenses and profit on
50:50 basis with the Department, and it was also agreed upon that villagers of Khajuria would be
employed as cutters on priority basis, since it was feared that other people might resort to
inadequate cutting practices. In the meantime, traders who had paid advance got their money
refunded from the villagers. Finally, a part of the available stock in the forest was harvested in
2003 and total 36100 culms were disposed through public auction while 287772 culms still
remained for harvesting. most of the cutters belonged to Khajuria and only few came from
outside. They were paid @Re.1 to 3 per culm towards cutting, dragging and stacking charges, on
the basis of the distance of the clumps(like, highest was paid for clumps on hills). Labour charges
for transporting the bamboo from the harvesting site to the 'depot' was additional, i.e., about
Rs.7/culm. Total cost of production thus came to be Rs.12 to 14 per culm, and accumulated to an
amount of Rs.1,40,000/- in the whole business against the sale price of Rs.3,63,360/-(this money
being at the disposal of the Forest Department). Of the net profit of Rs.2,23,360/-, VSS was to get
50% as it had equally shared the expenditure. Interaction with the villagers as well as the Forest
Department revealed that the labourers as well as the VSS committee were but partially paid, and
the Department was taking steps to clear the dues. While the villagers were unhappy with the lack
of promptness on the part of the Department, the local forest officials also had some limitations as
official consultation with the higher authorities takes time to yield. Still, the Khajuria case can
work as a model for bamboo-rich JFM areas in the absence of better examples.
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