Bamboo Primary Processing - a case study from Kerala

 

Bamboo has tremendous potential for both the nature and society. There are thousands of articles, reports and papers documenting its hidden potential. But over the years, its potential for the societal benefits has been underexplored and as a result of which the bamboo sector remained underdeveloped. We often discuss and critique about the slow growth in bamboo sector for the multifold reasons. While a lot of focus of our endless discussions remain about the problems, which ultimately results nowhere. The story to follow from the Gods own country Kerala seems to be a proven model to address some of the problems in bamboo sector and may put an accelerator to its growth.

Back in 1970’s, Kerala state had about one lakh women workers involved in bamboo mat making activities. These workers were traditional and barely earned any income out of it. Realizing this as an opportunity, Kerala State Bamboo Corporation (KSBC) was formed in 1971 to empower and enhance the wages of bamboo artisans. The task was not an easy, but KSBC strategically planned out the activities by ensuring an efficient value chain network. The main actors in the value chain network were the Forest Department (FD), Kerala State Bamboo Corporation (KSBC), Reed Cutters (RD), Weavers Community (WC) and the manufacturer (KSBC). In the year 1980, KSBC also started a bamboo mat board (BMB) factory with the technological support from IPIRTI.

KSBC formed the backward linkages with the weaving communities and bamboo harvesters. About 15,000 Reed Cutters were registered with the KSBC and they were paid on the basis of their work output. The reed cutters are mainly from tribal background. Each RD is given Rs 11 for cutting one reed and are also given annual incentives of Rs 17.5% on the total number of reeds cut within a year. A reed cutter manages to cut about 6 bundles of bamboos daily, thus earns about 400 Rs per day and about 2.7 Lakhs per annum.

The reed cutters supply these bamboos to the weaver’s community which in turn ensure the continuous supply of bamboo mats as raw material for manufacturing the bamboo mat boards. About 1 lakh such artisans are registered with the 17 community mat weaving center’s (CMWC). The mat weavers are generally women who get daily allowance after weaving at least 3 mats per day. The weavers weave the mat of size 8.25’*4.25’ for which they are paid 166 Rs/mat. On an average, each mat weaver weaves about 3 mats daily, thus earns about 500 Rs per day and approximately 1.1 Lakhs per annum.

The activity of making the bamboo mat boards has been running seamlessly and about 9,000 people are employed in the BMB factory. All the value chain actors remained in the trade as their earnings are much more than the opportunity cost of forgone activities. The KSBC model has proved the immense potential of bamboo in generating livelihoods and boosting the local employment. In the current situation where major emphasis is being given to the Atmabirbhar Bharat Abhiyan, the Kerala bamboo primary processing model could very well be a role model for the other bamboo rich states to plan and replicate in the post COVID 19 economic recovery.