The Hindu : National : Fund to deal with gregarious flowering of Muli bamboo

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Sunday, Oct 01, 2006
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Fund to deal with gregarious flowering of Muli bamboo

Special Correspondent

Mizoram to get the highest amount of Rs. 23 crore

NEW DELHI: The Union Environment and Forests Ministry has released the first instalment of Rs.17.82 crore to the northeastern States to deal with gregarious flowering of Muli bamboo.

The Ministry has approved Rs. 85 crore for implementation of various schemes under the Rs. 366 crore special action plan for the affected States. This plan was approved by the steering committee of the Ministry comprising representatives from these States, the Ministries and the Departments concerned.

Of the amount released, Mizoram will get Rs. 23 crore as it has the largest area under bamboo cover, followed by Tripura with Rs. 21 crore. Assam will receive Rs. 13 crore, Manipur, Rs. 9.9 crore, Nagaland Rs. 8 crore, Meghalaya Rs. 6.8 crore and Arunachal Pradesh will get Rs. 1.5 crore.

The Ministry has already removed restrictions on felling of Muli bamboo till gregarious flowering is over. The States can harvest without approved working plans or skinning to ensure proper harvesting and utilisation by developing of special mechanism. To ensure quick and unhindered removal of dead Muli bamboo, the States have been allowed to collect bamboo clumps. The exemption is applicable to both forest and non-forest area. Export restrictions on Muli bamboo have also been lifted till March 2008.

Bamboo forests are spread over 10.03 million hectares in India constituting over 12.8 per cent of the total forest area. Of this, about 28 per cent of the area is located in the northeast.

While there are 1,500 documented applications of bamboo, flowering of Muli bamboo (Melocanna baccifera) is often associated with famine and ecological disaster. The gregarious flowering as the phenomenon is known occurs after a regular interval and has been reported from 2004 onwards. Although a wide range of research is going on, the flowering of bamboo is still unexplained and mysterious.

In the northeast there is a general belief that bamboo flowering brings famine as the gregarious flowering produces large quantities of seed that, in turn, causes a sudden population explosion in rats. However, when the quantity of seeds diminishes due to germination during monsoon, the rodents head towards the farmlands, granaries, godowns and households, causing widespread loss of crops and spread of disease.

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