Orissa Bamboo Development Agency ...

In Orissa certain traditional communities have adopted the bamboo craft as a profession for their livelihood. Most of them are landless and do not have any other source of earning.

The bamboo artisans procure bamboo by themselves from nearby forests. The frequency of visit to forest for extraction of bamboo depends on the closeness of the forests as well as the quality of bamboo available.

The artisans living in towns or villages away from forests have to purchase bamboo from others, who procure those from forests. This adds to the cost of production and reduces profit. The price of bamboo varies depending on the distance from forest. They usually prepare baskets, mats and other house-hold items, which are normally used by the local rural households and hence the income generated is very low.

Some of the artisans have developed specialization in making fancy articles. The mats prepared from the epidermal layer fetches higher price for being used in beds. Similarly the baskets prepared from this layer are sturdy and carry a premium price. Because of this, in some pockets, the artisans remove the epidermal layer of bamboo during collection in side the forest, reject the whole inner portion and carry enough quantity of top layer in cycle required for the week. Such uneconomic use of bamboo causes lots of wastage and depletion of resource. Local artisans generally use 1-2 year old bamboos for their products. In most cases, they harvest bamboo from the lower reaches of the forests causing over exploitation and ultimate degradation of the crop.

The mats and baskets made by the artisans are generally sold in the nearby weekly markets.

Bamboo artisans in towns and cities display and sell their products in front of their huts.

Sometimes, they more around in the towns and villages to sell. Petty traders are also involved in procuring fancy items from the artisans for selling in fairs and festivals and other places. Invariably these artisans communities are at the lowest rung of the social hierarchy. Over the years, with gradual depletion of bamboo resource from nearby forests and introduction of new, competitive materials in the market, the income of artisan communities has suffered a lot. The average monthly income of a bamboo artisan family ranges from Rs.700 to Rs.1000. The income is more during harvest season and summer due to increased demand.

A cluster is a geographical concentration of units producing similar products and facing similar challenges and opportunities. Cluster development is based on the principle of “Collaborating while competing”. The cluster-based approach is market driven, inclusive, and collaborative. It offers critical mass for customization of interven

tions, enables economies of scale in operation, cheaper access to inputs & raw materials, better access to information & technology and direct reach to customers & channels.