Shedding out the apprehension of gregarious flowering and subsequent calamities the people of the North East are, in contrast, cheering up with bamboo plantation and bamboo lifestyle. Literally speaking, it is Bamboo Festival, popularly called Bamfest that has added to the consciousness and inspiration of people to grow more bamboo for industrialization and livelihood. The third in a row, Bamfest 2006 has brought before many of us an ample opportunity to dive into the world of bamboo, its multifarious utility and uses, plantation and survival.

Bamboo & North East

The North East is called the home of Bamboo and this wonder plant is intimately interwoven with the socio-cultural fabric of the population of the area.  While Bamboo forests in India occupy an extent of approximately 10.03 million hectares, about 28 percent of the area is located in North Eastern Region. And, the region has 67 per cent of the country’s growing stock, spreading over 3, 50,000 hectares in forest alone. Inextricably woven in the tradition and culture of the North Eastern people, bamboo sustains 70 per cent of rural work force in the region.

            This is also true that the North East is feared to be affected by the phenomenon of gregarious flowering that is synchronous over vast tracts of varying extent and observed to occur at regular time intervals. The gregarious flowering, which often creates ecological, economic and social environment, is expected during the years 2005-07 in the North East Region. Meanwhile sporadic flowering in a few species has been reported by few of the States of the Region. There is general belief that the gregarious flowering of bamboo brings famine caused by production of large quantity of bamboo seeds and population explosion in rats that ultimately attack farm lands. In order to mitigate the problem the Union Ministry of Environment and Forests has adopted a contingency plan to be implemented by the concerning State Governments, particularly Mizoram, Tripura, Manipur, Meghalaya and Assam.  Recently the Ministry has approved Rs. 85 crore to the North Eastern States to implement various schemes for implementation of the Action Plan to tackle the situation of gregarious flowering. This apart, a 15 year master plan, named North Eastern Regional Bamboo Mission (NERBaM) was launched by the North Eastern Council (NEC) last year with the objective of poverty alleviation and saving forests.

According to the Cane and Bamboo Technology Centre (CBTC), the agency implementing the NERBaM, the region has a special significance with respect to Bamboo, since about 60 percent of the Bamboo reserves of India and 20 percent of the World are available in the North Eastern Region. More than 100 species of the Bamboo are naturally available in this region. Majority of the species have various applications in the industry, such as in manufacture of Bamboo Floor Boards, Bamboo Mat Corrugated Sheets, bamboo Mat Boards, Bamboo Ply Boards, Bamboo Particle Boards etc. Different applications such as Incense Sticks, Bamboo Mats, bamboo Slivers and Strips are manufactured at the cluster levels by the primary processors in the region.

In Tripura bamboo has a niche in the socio economic scene of the population. Official records say, the pure bamboo occur over 834 sq. km., which is approximately 15 per cent of the forest area of the State. The bamboo forests mixed with miscellaneous trees is 2397 sq. km and bamboo clumps in small private holding is about 109 sq. km. If all these figures put together, bamboo accounts for about 33 per cent area of the State.

            It is estimated that about 3 lakhs families belonging to poor section of the population eke out their living by bamboo plantations and allied activities. Out of over one lakh artisans existing in the State 80 percent are engaged exclusively in bamboo based handicrafts and industries.

According to an estimate Tripura has a trade on bamboo worth Rs. 25-30 crores annually, while the State Bamboo Mission (SBMT) has a target to increase the volume at 75.85 crore.  Presently, about 14 spices of bamboo are cultivated predominantly in Dharmanagar, Kailasahar, Kamalpur, Khowai, Amarpur, Udaipur, Sabroom and Belonia subdivision of the State. The strategy taken up by the SBMT is to create good clusters as that would lead to agglomeration economics based on the bamboo products. For the purpose, the agency is laying stress on community and private sector participation in bamboo development, support to activities focused on conservation of bamboo resources, plant propagation, enhancement of the production base, management information system (MIS), inventory and database development, industrial utilization and entrepreneurship development etc.

Use and Utility of Bamboo         

Bamboos are a group of woody perennial evergreen plants in the true grass family, Poaceae, sub-family Bambusoideae. There are 91 genre and 12 hundred species of bamboo around the globe. They are found in diverse climates, from cold mountains to hot tropical regions. The shoots of bamboo are edible. In many countries like China, Indonesia this shoots are sold in supermarkets in various sliced forms. Here in India, particularly in the North East including Tripura bamboo shoots are very popular vegetable foodstuff among the tribal population. These apart, bamboo are traditionally used for manufacturing of houses, furniture, utensils, showpieces and even ornaments.       

Bamboo festival & Expo

In order to give fillips to the bamboo based industrialization and promote livelihood and cultural heritage the BAMFEST and Expo 2006 began in Agartala from December 16– 23, 2006. Shri Jairam Ramesh, Union Minister of State for   Commerce inaugurated the Bamfest.. The theme of the BAMFEST 2006, organized by the Cane and Bamboo Technology Centre (CBTC), Guwahati in association with the Government of Tripura, is Bamboo Cluster Development and Market Access. About 75-odd exhibition stalls opened by various government departments, agencies, Self Help Group and NGOs were put up. Besides having a discussion forum on bamboo applications on several days ­‑ in participation of  Policy makers, Entrepreneurs, Artisans, Technologists, Scientists - the BAMFEST includes Bamboo Food Festival, Music Festival, BAM-EXPO, an exhibition on Bamboo handicrafts and industrial products, Film shows on Bamboo, essay and painting competitions too.

The BAMFEST, sponsored by the North Eastern Council (NEC) under the North Eastern Regional Bamboo Mission (NERBaM) has planned to hold such exhibitions in every State Capital of the North East. The BAMFEST 2006 at Agartala is the third in a row. The previous BAMFEST were held in Shillong and in Guwahati in 2005 and 2003 respectively. The objective of the Bamfest 2006 is to popularizing and creating awareness related to Bamboo’s role in wood substitution, protecting the environment of the planet and its major role in creating sustainable livelihood opportunities, employment generation and entrepreneurship.

This event has been accorded the recognition by the World Bamboo Organisation (WBO) as an International Event on Bamboo and received widespread International participation of Scientists, Technologists, Entrepreneurs, Government Policy Makers, Artisans, and Bamboo-Enthusiasts etc. The eight-day long Festival and Exposition in Agartala is hosting several discussion and brain storming sessions on ways and means to introduce Bamboo as livelihood development opportunities at cluster levels throughout the North East and India.

It has provided access to the general population in terms of information and first hand exposure to developments taking place in the fields of Bamboo related industrial applications with special focus on traditional bamboo processing skills of the major ethnic communities and how it is connected with the socio-economic-cultural lives of people in the North East Region.