Bamboo in Orissa: Trade and Livelihood Perspective - Vasundhara

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process with the help of a knife. After thorns are removed, the culms are sundried(for 3-4
days in summer and 10-12 days in winter) first and then seasoned in water for 4-5 hours.
The uppermost layer is removed with the help of a sharp knife before final use. After that
strips are extracted from the culms. For making frames, bending of culms is required for
which such pieces, coated with oil, are exposed to heat treatment over a blue-lamp.
Colouring is not frequent and reaction with water imparts a reddish tint to cane. Still,
artificial colouring can be done by treating the canes with coloured solutions.
As indicated earlier, cane work takes more time and labour than bamboo work(artistic). If a
bamboo jhudi takes 4 hours for production, a beta jhudi of same size would take about 12
hours for the same. The cost of raw material also varies significantly; Rs.10 in case of the
former and Rs.80-110 in case of the latter. Hence the bamboo jhudi is sold @Rs.40/piece
whereas its beta counterpart is priced at Rs.220.
For a gauni priced at Rs.150/piece, the cost of raw material is about Rs.50, and 1.5
mandays are required for its production.
As regards furnitures, a cane sofa set(4 single chairs with double-handle and one tea-poi)
which is to be sold at about Rs.2500, requires raw material worth approx. Rs.1600 and
labour worth Rs.350(4.5 mandays), besides transportation(to the nearest town) cost of
Rs.70 (per comm., Sailabala Moharana and Panchanan Moharana). Cane purchased from
Kolkata shares about 75% of the raw material cost, those purchased locally share only
about 16% of the same; hence the cost of production could have been reduced significantly
had the cane of required quality been available locally.
Beta is more resistant to insect-attack(like white ants) than bamboo and other substitutes
provided it is properly sundried and seasoned before use. Culms of 1-year age or more are
used, and unlike bamboo dried & seasoned culms can be stored for one year or more
without losing their quality and workability.
The durability also depends on whether the upper(external) part(pithi) is used or the inner
part(anti), because as in case of bamboo, products made of the upper part are more
durable(flexible) and are hence costlier than those made of the inner part. It may be noted
in this context that the production of pithi cane is almost 90% less than that of the anti part
in any culm.
Products of kia canes(strips) look similar to beta products(excluding furnitures). In fact, the
look is so similar that some artisans sell them as beta products. The clue to their distinction
lies in the fact that if immerged in water, beta basket would assume a reddish colour
whereas kia basket would remain white for sometime and would then turn blackish.
Processing kia is quite easier than cane and the basket which would take 1.5 to 2 mandays
for making in case of kia, would take 3 mandays in case of cane. While kia is locally
collected from wastelands free of cost, cane is often purchased. The sale price thus varies
accordingly, like Rs.80-100 in case of former and Rs.220-230 in case of the latter.
Nalia is another substitute for beta, but less durable than the latter and hence cheaper.
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