Bamboo in Orissa: Trade and Livelihood Perspective - Vasundhara

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Products
Beta is a basket of various sizes(often 2 feet or more in diameter) without angular
depressions, and is used for carrying/storing paddy and other items). Gauni and mana are
small-size baskets having four angular corners in the lower part, and are used basically for
measuring paddy/rice in terms of volume. A standard gauni measures about 4.2 kg of
paddy in terms of weight as against 0.5 kg in case of a standard mana(Nilakanthapur).
Cane furnitures are another range of products meant for the economically well-to-do class.
Banpur(Khurdha), Talabasta(Cuttack), Tumudibandha(Kandhamal) and Narla(Kalahandi)
are famous for cane furniture (Aparajita and Darbar Sahitya Sansad:2003, State Level
Workshop on Craft Cluster Development in Orissa: A Background Paper, p.13).Artisans at
some places(like Kendrapati near Kakatpur) know how to make them, but do not engage
themselves in this work unless there is an order.
Beta-jhudi is a products specially meant for use inside betel farms. Bamboo jhudis, which
are used in earth work, are comparatively bigger and difficult for use inside the betel farms
as there is little space there for moving from here and there, and carrying soil in such jhudis
within that area is risky as their rough edges can cause wounds in the body. Hence, flexible
and convenient cane jhudis are preferred which have smooth surface/edges.
Marketing
As in case of bamboo, marketing of traditional cane products is seasonal and depends on
agro-cultural demands. For instance, mana is in high demand during the harvesting season
for worship on the occasion of manabasa gurubara(a holy Thursday). The products are
usually sold in weekly markets, but also in shops and sometimes at the doorstep of the
customers.
For the artisans of Puri district, occasions like aonla navami festival at Sakshigopal and
kartik purnima festival at Puri provide better scope for marketing of their products. The
sale prices may be doubled during such occasions and hence the net profit increases
significantly.
In some cases(like the Kujang area), petty traders purchase the items from artisans to sell
the same in distant areas. The profit margin for him may be 10% or more.
In Talabasta, cane furnitures are manufactured and sold at important towns of the state like
Bhubaneswar. The products are so much in demand that Sailabala Moharana, whose family
owns a manufacturing unit, says that although they are able for an annual turnover of Rs.3
to 4 lakhs, it can reach about 6 lakhs had their raw material problem been solved(per
comm.). Hence, production and marketing of cane products is a round-the-year business for
them.
The devastating effect of super cyclone created a scaricity of the resource(raw material)
followed by an increase in its price by about 4 times. This in turn caused an increase in the
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