Bamboo’s long life makes it a Chinese symbol of long life. In India it is a symbol of friendship. Several Asian cultures, including that of the Andaman Islands, believe that humanity emerged from a bamboo stem. Even a Malaysian legend goes that a man who dreams of a beautiful woman while sleeping under a bamboo plant wakes up to discover the woman inside the bamboo stem after breaking it. In the Philippines, bamboo crosses are used as a good luck charm by farmers. In Japan, a bamboo forest sometimes surrounds a Shinto shrine as part of a sacred barrier against evils. But to the India’s North-Easterners, it has another, different and ominous connotation.

When the yellow, mauve and crimson flowers paint the hills and vales in the North-East in resplendent shades, a sense of doom descends. For the people of the region, the flowering of the bamboo blossoms means only one thing — that the inevitable famine is not far behind. A traditional saying in Mizoram, the tiny hill state in north-east India, goes that when the bamboo flowers, famine, death and destruction will soon follow. Who better than the hardy Mizos would know this, considering that theirs is probably the only land on earth where history is closely intertwined with the mysterious cycle of bamboo flowering. Flowering of the vast bamboo forests of the Mizo hills is tied up with the ecosystem of this primarily agrarian region in ways that have profound ramifications for its social and political history.

In the late 1950s, the gregarious or the synchronized flowering once in every 50 year of a particular species of bamboo known locally as ‘Mautak”, led to a famine induced by the explosive growth in the population of rats – rat-famine or ‘Mautam’. It was precisely this bamboo flowering in the state that led to the disillusionment and anger due to the authorities’ failures to respond with quick famine relief, which finally resulted in the Mizo National Famine Front, an organization created to help people get relief, changing into the Mizo National Front, an ethnic political party which involved the Mizos in a 20-year war of attrition against India which ended only in 1987 with a peace accord. Such a peculiar behaviour of bamboos often creates ecological, economic and social problems, particularly in the North-East India because of its poor infrastructure development.

This spectre of gloom is haunting the NE region once again with reports of the natural phenomena occurring in different parts of the north-east. Experts at the Rain forest Research Institute (RFRI), Jorhat has anticipated another gregarious flowering of Muli bamboo between 2005-07 over an area of 18,000 sq. kms in India’s north-eastern states of Mizoram – the epicentre, Tripura, Manipur, Arunachal Pradesh, Meghalaya and in parts of Assam. Manipur’s Tamenglong district is already reeling under a rodent menace, the outcome of bamboo flowering. Recently flowering of other species of bamboos has also been reported from East Kameng District Sappa of Arunanchal Pradesh.

Two tell-tale signs of impending flowering which are already appearing in some parts of the NE region are: A reduction in the number of culms produced in the year or years before flowering, and the production of small-bladed leaves from the ends of leaf complements, that signals flower production has commenced. When mass flowering, a bamboo usually looses all its leaves and each culm hangs with thousands of flowers. In the largest bamboos, such as Bambusa bambos, it has been estimated that a single culm has 1.3 million flowers on it. A large plant of perhaps 100 - 200 culms, may have up to a quarter of a billion flowers and produce many tonnes of seed.

There should not be any unnecessary panic. Dr Barooah, a scientist with the Assam Science Technology and Environment Council (ASTEC) and who has done extensive study on the common bamboo species like the Jati and Bhaluka of the region, forcefully made the observation that gregarious flowering would be witnessed only in the case of the Muli bamboo (Melocana baccifera) and not with the common bamboo species of the State and for that matter of the north eastern region of India. This species (muli) of the bamboo grows in the wild mostly in the hilly areas of southern part of the State and in neighbouring Mizoram.

The fear of a famine sweeping the state has heightened with signs that vast tracts of bamboo forest are flowering. “It is not a myth or any superstitious belief to think that bamboo flowering signals famine. It is stark reality and the region had experienced and witnessed an outbreak of famine in the past under similar circumstances,” says Arunachal Pradesh Agriculture Minister Tsering Gyurme.

Although no scientific detailed study is available, there are reports that document the historical occurrence of bamboo flowering and famine in North-East India particularly in Mizoram. As per records, flowering of this very species of the bamboo (Muli bamboo) led to famines in 1862, 1881, 1911-12 and 1959. The 1959 famine claimed between 10,000 and 15,000 lives in Mizoram, Tripura, Manipur and Barak Valley of Assam. Based on this, the projections have been made that the next flowering cycle is expected to occur during 2004-2007.

Flowering of bamboo is a botanical enigma. The factors responsible for flowering are yet to be understood fully. Nearly all bamboo seems to have their own life history and most of them flower once in a lifetime and die after flowering and subsequently regenerate from seeds. Records of bamboo flowering in Mizoram date back to 1880. The flowering is divided into two categories based on the bamboo species viz. Mautam and Thigtam (local names). Both these flowering have been found to occur at regular intervals of roughly 47 to 50 years.

Most species of bamboo in India — home to the world’s largest bamboo forests — flower simultaneously every 50 years, then set seed and die. In previous years, the simultaneous production of seeds by millions of bamboo plants has caused a surge in the number of seed-eating rodents. The rodents then move to nearby paddy and potato fields in search of food, with a devastating effect on staple crops. Rats literally thrive on the seeds of bamboo flowers. Experts say the rodents multiply at a tremendous rate as they get enough food to sustain a large population from the bamboo flowers and seeds. The flowers and seeds also enhance the oestrogen level of rodents, leading to a spurt in the rodent population.

Adds Dr Chandra Barooah: “Flowering of bamboo is a rare and natural phenomenon and is either periodic or annual. It is either gregarious, sporadic or sometimes both. Habit of flowering in bamboos can be classified into three types, namely, annual flowering, gregarious and periodic flowering and irregular flowering.” Bambusa arundinacea, B. polymorpha (that is, Betua Banh) and Melocanna baccifera (Muli) have the habit of gregarious or periodical flowering on a cycle of 25-70 years. These species’ culms and clumps begin to die after flowering or seeding.

Authorities' Preparation

Tickling everybody’s mind is how far have the states’ governments, the centre and the region gear up for the impending catastrophe. Or is it just waiting to see the magnitude of the disaster?

The centre’s steering committee headed by the Secretary, Ministry of Environment and Forests, Dr. Prodipto Ghosh, reviewed the action plan to address the natural ecological phenomenon of gregarious flowering of muli bamboos (Melocanna baccifera), having high social and economic implications. According to official sources, the Centre has proposed to allocate Rs. 105.00 crores to address this natural ecological phenomenon. The amount required for the purpose as per the projections of the states is estimated to be of the order of Rs 327.90 crores.

The committee will have three focus areas — harvesting, regeneration of the area and rodent control.

The Indian government, in an attempt to boost bamboo harvesting before flowering begins, has eliminated all export duties until 2007. Fully aware of its economic importance, it has also launched an initiative to invest $500 million in bamboo development in the next decade, with the aim of creating 8 million jobs.

The Planning Commission has also agreed ‘in-principle’ to provide assistance of Rs 85 crores as a new Centrally Sponsored Scheme to be operated by the Ministry of Environment & Forests in addition to providing ACA, to the state governments concerned.

India’s Ministry of Environment and Forests has set up two committees to recommend ways to limit crop losses. One has suggested that bamboo is extracted before it flowers, and that mixed vegetation is planted immediately after flowering to stop soil erosion. The second recommends improving harvesting and storage facilities for the extracted bamboo, and removing export restrictions to find additional outlets for harvested bamboo.

In a separate proposal, the Centre for Indian Bamboo Resource and Technology (CIBART) is exploring a pilot project with the Ministry of Rural Development and Manipur state government, which involves creating a buffer zone — in which bamboo would be completely removed to deter rats — around bamboo-growing villages in the state’s Tamenglong district.

With reports of sporadic bamboo flowering in Mizoram, the ministry of commerce and industry has declared free export of muli bamboo to facilitate the marketing of the harvested crop. Sources said the offer would be valid till March 31, 2007 under the Export and Import Policy under Foreign Trade (Development and Regulation) Act 1993, subject to transit rules of the concerned states.

Among the north-east states, Mizoram, the epicentre of the phenomena, leads brigade in fighting against the calamity. The state government has drawn up a three-pronged action plan to tackle any impending disaster. The first component of this elaborate scheme is early harvesting of bamboo. Secondly, a rodent control programme has also been kicked off in the state. And, finally, measures for regeneration of the bamboo plants, which reel under the harmful flowering.

However, certain state organizations and individuals have become gravely concerned with the state’s bamboo policy and said the intention of the state government to harvest all the bamboo may end in ecological as well as economic disaster.

According to C. Rokhuma, an expert on Mizoram’s Mautam famine which occurs in a 50-year cycle, the flowering of bamboos is a natural phenomena when the life-cycle of the state’s largest bamboo species, Berry bamboo or Mellocana Baccifera under its botanical name, comes to an end. “It was nature’s way of propagating a new generation of bamboo when the flowering starts and the bamboos begin to die off.”

“The dying bamboo makes for great organic fertilizer and the year after bamboos die off has always seen large paddy and vegetable harvests as never experienced before. Harvesting all the bamboos before they die off would mean no natural fertilizer for the land which could mean greater famine,” cautions Rokhuma.

Arunachal Pradesh is not lagging behind either. Says Arunachal Pradesh Agriculture Minister Tsering Gyurme, “We have made a public appeal asking people to minimize fermenting rice beer and instead stock food grains for survival in the wake of a famine that is looming large over the region.”

As part of a government disaster management plan, authorities have come up with certain ingenious ways to tackle the rat menace with areas like the East Kameng district being the worst hit. Kill a rat and get a cash reward of two rupees is the latest in a series of anti-rodent measures by the government - a scheme that has become very popular in Seppa, the headquarters of the East Kameng district, 160 kilometers east of the state capital.

BAMBOO FACTS

Why does gregarious flowering occur?

Although a wide range of research is going on, the flowering of bamboo is still unexplained and mysterious. There are several theories on the causes of flowering and death of bamboos such as the ones relating the phenomenon to pathological, periodical, mutational, nutritional, human, resource matching, predator satiation reasons, and bamboo wildlife cycle hypothesis.

Physiologically, the bamboos differ significantly from other vegetation because of the mechanism of flowering. Generally, most of the bamboo species flower gregariously at fixed intervals and all clumps including those of current year die after flowering. Majority of bamboos fall between the two physiological states of constant flowering (Bambusa atra) and constant sterility (Bambusa vulgaris). Some bamboos die within two years after flowering while others do not die but then growth slows down during the flowering period as in Phyllostachys and Arundinaria species. The flowering is like setting on an alarm clock which is set to go off at a particular time when all populations of a given species raised from the same seed source, no matter where they are situated, would start flowering at the same time. For example, seeds of Thyrsostachys oliveri that flowered in Burma in 1891 were sown at Calcutta and Dehradun- two places separated by 1500 km from each other. The clumps raised from these seeds flowered simultaneously at Calcutta and Dehradun in 1940 and flowered again in 1987-88 indicating the flowering cycle of 48 years.

Why gregarious flowering is so much cause of concern?

In the NE region, based on personal experiences, the local people have knowledge on the periodicity and problems associated with gregarious flowering in the region. There is general belief supported by some scientific perspective that the gregarious flowering of bamboos brings famine. The phenomenon can be explained as a chain of events occurring in the following sequence. The gregarious flowering of bamboos produces large quantities of seeds, which in turn causes sudden population explosion in rats. However, the quantity of seeds available for rats diminishes soon on the germination of seeds after the rains. The resultant short supply of bamboo seeds on the one hand and a large population of rats on the other, makes rats heading towards the farmlands in the adjoining areas and causing wide spread loss to the crops. Such a chain of events has the potential to cause famine.

Folklore apart, scientists say that the strange phenomena of bamboo flowering wreaks ecological havoc because of some reasons. One of them is that bamboo plants die after flowering. It will be at least some years before bamboo plants take seed again, leaving bare exposed soil - which could be disastrous in mountainous states - and also leading to food scarcity, since animals depend on bamboo plants.

The preparations by the Mizos for an anticipated famine due to bamboo flowering may sound intriguing and even over-enthusiastic for anyone who is not familiar with the history and society of Mizo people. It may be recalled that the Assam government rejected the request – to sanction to the Mizo District Council a sum of Rs 15 lakhs for the whole district (Mizoram was then still a district of Assam) for expending on relief measures – of the Mizos, who had anticipated famine in 1958. Reason: The anticipation was not scientific and famines could not be predicted. Fallout: On March 1, 1966 the MNF declared the independence of the Mizo people from India and thus began a violent chapter of insurgency.