The Hindu : Tamil Nadu News : Thornless bamboos gain in popularity

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Tamil Nadu

Thornless bamboos gain in popularity

Special Correspondent

In the past 2 years 250 ha have come under bamboo cultivation

— Photo: C. Venkatachalapathy

Spot inspection: National Bamboo Mission Deputy Director-General Kameshwar Oza inspecting a bamboo farm at Kadambur.

VILLUPURAM: The cultivation of thornless bamboo varieties is picking up in Villupuram district. In the past two years 250 hectares have come under bamboo cultivation in the district, according to P.Dhandapani, Deputy Director of Horticulture Department.

Mr Dhandapani told The Hindu that the Deputy Director-General Kameshwar Oza of the National Bamboo Mission inspected the areas under bamboo at Vikkiravandi and Rishvandhiyam blocks on Monday.

The objective of the mission was to encourage bamboo cultivation among the farmers so as to augment their income. The farmers were given an incentive of Rs 8,000 spread over two years for taking to bamboo cultivation.

Subsidy was also given to them for putting up the fertigation system — mixing fertilizers with drip irrigation. Two years into the mission the horticulture department had brought 150 hectares under bamboo while the Forest Department and the Tamil Nadu Agricultural Department had covered another 100 ha.

Mr Dhandapani noted that four thorn-less varieties such as the bambusa vulgaris, bambusa bulcoa, bambusa nutans and bambusa tulda had proved to be ideal for cultivation.

These varieties could attain a height of 25—30 ft within two years and would attain maturity, with considerable girth, in four-five years. The farmers could obtain a yield of 50 tonnes of bamboo per hectare and because of their high-worth bio-mass they could get considerable income. These types of bamboos would fetch market prices ranging from Rs 2,000 to Rs 5,000 a tonne.

The conventional thorny varieties could yield only 10-15 tonnes per ha., and moreover their standard could not match the thornless varieties. The bulk consumers of bamboo were obviously the paper mills followed by the handicrafts sector.

Bamboos were also sought by banana growers for giving a prop to the trees to withstand gale and to avoid losses. Mr Dhandapani further said that bamboos had their utility value in household articles, though the market share of these objects was declining.

He noted that bamboos had their usage in the textile sector too. Filaments could be extracted from the bamboos for producing fabrics as was being done at the major textile centres such as Pune, Ahmedabad and Nagpur.

Since this sector would require high volumes it would take some time before the bamboo growers here capture the textile market. Under the mission it was proposed to extend bamboo cultivation to 100 ha a year, Mr Dhandapani added.

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