Buds Of Poison Is A Lie

If the Minister for Development C. P. Thakur carries out his threat to clearfell the bamboo forests in theNortheast it would result in an ecological disaster followed by a political upheaval in that region. It mustnot be permitted -- Bamboo is the lifeblood of the people.

Knowledge is power, so some basic facts about gregarious flowering and its function in bamboo's dual systemof reproduction should be widely made known in order to forestall any attempt to use such myths as `buds ofpoison' to clearfell the bamboo forests.

The rhizome of a bamboo produces a large number of culms (a culm is a single bamboo) during monsoon. Thesegrow rapidly to reach their full length by the end of that season. Such multiplication of culms ceases at theend of a species vegetative growth, which varies from 1-120 years in different species. Eastern India aloneharbours more than 50 per cent of the known 125 species in India (D N Tiwari's `Bamboos' published by IndianCouncil of Forest Research). This implies that if any one of the bamboo species reaches the end of itsvegetative period and begins to flower gregariously, the rest of the 70 odd species will live and continue toproduce their bamboo culms.

The function of gregarious flowering needs to be understood properly. At the end of the vegetative periodof a bamboo species it is exhausted wherever it be located. These exhausted clumps begin to flower. Crosspollination leads to genetic enrichment to produce a much better bamboo crop of that particular species.Therefore Minister Thakur's panic reaction and his assumption that the entire 10.03 million her of bambooforests are on the verge of flowering is a gross exaggeration. Sporadic flowering that is reported as almost aharbinger of gregarious flowering is also totally untrue.

An occasional bamboo that has flowered sporadically outside its vegetative period has always been found tobe an injured ones (R. S. Troupe the famed British botanist/forester). This is a mere survival strategy ofthat particular species (M. Savur 2003).

The fear of rodents is real. It has to be tackled. Who has more power and resources to do it than adevelopment Minister? It is his duty and he has to fulfill his duty. Bamboo is a grass, so too are wheat andrice which bear edible seeds that both humans and rodent devour. If rodents are kept at bay in the ripeninggrain fields and from store houses why not from the ripening seeds of the bamboo. Surely it is less expensivethan building ropeways to transport all the clearfelled bamboos.

Gregarious flowering of bamboo does not portend disaster. Drought, repeated droughts cause failure ofcrops, likewise it also exhausts the carbohydrate content, the main constituent of the bamboo which will thendefensively flower and flower gregariously. A sheer survival strategy in the face of crisis.

Finally, it is very important to know that the beautiful bamboo forests in the North-East are by and largesecondary forests, which had quickly sprung up and saved the delicate eco-system when the timber trees of thevast primary evergreen and semi-evergreen forests of that region were ruthlessly felled from 1950s onwards bythe ply and veneer industries located in Assam. The Marwari owners of these forest based industries hadcleverly bribed the local youth with hard cash and drugs. It is a shame that Minister Thakur now calls forclearfelling the protective mantle formed by the bamboos.

Bamboo does have many uses for the local people - but let us not forget it is also the green gold of theforests.

Prof Manorama Savur is author of the recently published And the Bamboo Flowers in the Indian Forests -- Vol I & II, Manohar Publishers, New Delhi