Bamboo in Orissa: Trade and Livelihood Perspective - Vasundhara

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Name of the Character
Remarks
variety
salia Comparatively soft to Best for artistic work
work; less prone to insectattack
if properly dried
kanta
Very tough to work with; Not used 1
has thorns
sundarkani Comparatively thicker A commonly preferred substitute for
than salia; more prone to salia
insect-attack
aulangi Nodes are virtually Not used
absent; very tough to
work.
balangi Nodes are virtually absent Not preferred since the strips are
comparatively less flexible and hence
break often during extraction. Still
balangi can be used for jhudi making
though the product will be less durable.
phula Flowering culms Not preferred due to their weaknesses
Artisans usually require long culms of green bamboo whereas construction works and betel
farmers need long culms of mature bamboo. Paper industries use short pieces so as to make
chips for pulp making. Bamboo used for paper making is known as industrial
bamboo(IB) whereas that(long bamboo) used for basketry, fencing, or construction
purposes is called commercial bamboo(CB).Stump bamboo usually comes under
the IB category, and is nothing but the stumps left after the upper portions have been cut
and removed. Cutting of such stumps is necessary to ensure healthy growth in the clump,
and sized at a length of 3 ft. 9 inches each, these are also bundled in the same way as
normal salia bamboo and sent to paper mills though at a lesser price(per comm., Prahlad
Nayak).
Some people distinguish two different parts of a culm as agara and baunsha, the former
being the upper half and the latter, the lower half.
Use:
The use/application of bamboo belongs to two major categories: industrial and nonindustrial.
While the industrial use has been an important source of revenue for the state
ex-chequer since several decades, the non-industrial use has an intimate relationship with
the local people who depend on this resource for food, medicine, house-building materials
and also, raw material for making bamboo-ware.
1 However, in Khandapara area of Nayagarh district the artisans reportedly use thorny bamboo particularly to
make products that are to be exposed to water regularly (like, baskets used for washing rice/paddy, etc.)
because products made from salia or sundarkani would be less durable in such cases(per comm., Abhimanyu
Pradhan). On the other hand, artisans of Iramaru(Bajrakot) hamlet produce fish-containers from daba since
salia is hardly available in their area.
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