Bamboo in Orissa: Trade and Livelihood Perspective - Vasundhara

All rights reserved by VASUNDHARA(www.vasundharaorissa.org). For any clarification, contact author at sunlit1968@yahoo.co.in
The Forest Department also took some initiatives in Dhenkanal districts to benefit the
artisans (The New Indian Express, 9.12.04, p.5).
In some cases bamboo artisans are employed on contract- or daily wage basis. For instance,
in Koduanpalli village(Nayagarh district) artisans are employed to make a doli against a
payment of Rs.100 for two mandays, and the employer purchases the required bamboo at
Rs.30; the total cost being Rs.130. This way the employer saves Rs.70 on each such doli
which is otherwise sold by the village artisans at Rs.200/piece(per comm..).
Secondary employment
Bamboo cutting operations require development of roads and many other works not
directly related to the bamboo itself. These secondary works also generate employment for
the local people. An estimate suggests the number of people engaged in such works may be
roughly 25% of that of the bamboo cutters (based on The Prajatantra, 6-7-01). In specific
areas this % may be much higher, like in Nayagarh district the number of secondary
labourers is said to be about 700 against the number of cutters as more than 1200(The
Pragatibadi, 5-4-02, p.1). And the engagement of these secondary labourers more or less
coincides with that of the cutters.
During training programmes organised for artisans, master craftsmen are invited from other
states since their expertise was not available earlier in Orissa. Now few of the local
craftsmen like Pratap Nayak of Sianbahal village(Sundargarh) are being invited to such
programmes. Nayak got Rs.4000/- per month(which includes his DA) for working for 4
hours daily in one such programme organised by an NGO of Keonjhar, and Rs.3000/- per
month for working for 3 hours in a similar programme organised at Rourkela. The
organisers provide the raw materials. Although such opportunities are not available now
for the whole year, still it has created a new form of employment for the expert
craftspersons.
Employment through plantations
Employment through bamboo plantation schemes is often an irregular in nature both in
terms of time and area. Still it has some contribution in the livelihood of the local people.
Bamboo plantation has been used for employment generation through the Employment
Assurance Scheme(EAS), a form of Jawahar Rojgar Yojna. For example, bamboo was
planted on 30 hectares of land under this scheme in the Gajanpahar RF of Hemgir
Range(Sundargarh district) in 1996-97. It was funded by District Rural Development
Agency.
At present there is no report of any bamboo plantation created through EAS. All the
plantations are being created either under FDA or RLTAP scheme. The average number
mandays generated per hectare of pure bamboo plantation has been calculated to be as
under:
60