Bamboo in Orissa: Trade and Livelihood Perspective - Vasundhara

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are able to sell it at a price 15 to 20% less than that of the Andhra bamboo. The margin of
profit is also more in their case because their bamboo is cheaper even at a profit of Rs.3 to
4 per piece whereas traders procuring from Andhra normally expect Re.1 to Rs. 2 per piece
of their bamboo which is already costlier and more profit will make it further costlier.
At Kundhei, the rates of bamboo(single and longitudinally split) for use basically in betel
farming have been found as under(valid for the supply from Narsinghpur area):
Item Size(length) Price in rupees
chhuncha(un-split long 15 to 18 feet 1100 to 1300 per 100
bamboo)
phalia(split bamboo about 2 10.5 feet 110 per 20 pieces
inches in width)
binchana (split bamboo about 13.5 feet 120 per 80 pieces
0.5 inch in width)
(per comm.. Shyama Nath)
5. Bamboo-ware and bamboo craft
The traditional system of marketing common bamboo-ware was through the barter system
where paddy or rice was exchanged for the baskets and winnows, etc., particularly if the
purchaser and the seller belonged to the same village. The system is still prevalent in some
areas, but sale against cash payment is also practiced. However, certain items like panajhudi
are essentially sold for cash only.
Demand of certain products has increased considerably over time whereas certain other
products have suffered a negative impact. For instance, demand of mati-jhudi, which is
used in earth/construction work, has increased by manifold due to increasing constructions
of roads and buildings, etc., and plastic substitutes are yet to challenge the dominance of
this bamboo-product. On the other hand, the baskets used for bidi-supply are being
replaced by other substitutes due to cost-effectiveness, durability and easy
handing nature of the latter. For certain items like bhati-tukuri, people just do not prefer
plastic substitutes due to a number of reasons.
Bidi-peti amd machha-peti are essentially localised products as their market is confined to
a particular area. For instance, machha-peti i.e., basket used for packing and transporting
fish, has its market confined to the Chilika area and is produced at Bajrakot/Iramaru
village(Ranpur block, Nayagarh dist.). A local trader purchases the same from his covillagers
artisans approx. @Rs.30/piece, and supplies to the Chilika market at about
Rs.50/piece. Average supply per month is 150 to 200 pieces. The traders says that he has
not noticed any significant increase or decrease in the demand and sale of this product(per
comm., Bachana Nayak).
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