Rampant Smuggling Devours Bamboo in India's North-east
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SILCHAR (Assam), May 5 (OneWorld) - Once known as poor man's timber, bamboo now promises to earn billions for the troubled north-eastern state of Mizoram that accounts for 65 percent of India's bamboo plantations, but smuggling to neighboring Bangladesh and Myanmar is demolishing profits.
The illegal trade is aided by the fact that India's borders with Bangladesh and Myanmar are porous in some places. Over the last few years, at least 1.7 million tons of raw bamboo worth US $6.4 billion illegally made its way out of the northeast. Illegal exports from Mizoram, which has 9,218 square kilometers of bamboo plantations, mainly head for Myanmar. From there, smugglers backed by rebel groups supply timber to factories in South Korea, Malaysia, Japan, Taiwan, Cambodia and Indonesia. Timber companies are fast expanding in Myanmar, where a significant 18.6 percent of the land area under forests is protected. Consequently, there is a growing market for timber imports, and raw material from Mizoram is meeting the demand. Explains a customs official in Mizoram's capital Aizawl, "Most firms (in Myanmar) thrive on the illegal supply of timber. The demand in the north-east has risen due to increasing security in the forests of Myanmar." Around 90 percent of the global timber trade is controlled by Asian logging firms. Logging bans in Thailand and China have also resulted in a greater illegal flow of what is now known as green gold from Myanmar, to help meet an insatiable demand. Smugglers in Mizoram operate from areas bordering Myanmar like Champhai, Thingsai, Lungbun, Thaipang Sangau, Hnahlan, Hnahlan and Vawmbuk. An intelligence official reveals, "Most of the smuggled consignments are taken to the Rid village in the Chin division of Myanmar via Champai. The smugglers generally use jungle tracks while entering Mizoram, making it almost impossible for border personnel to nab them." Timber smugglers are also active along the border with Bangladesh. Bamboo consignments are sent to Bangladesh's capital city Dhaka and used there for construction. The border town of Teknaf in Bangladesh has also become a hotbed of bamboo smuggling. The illegal trade is destroying Mizoram's natural wealth. For instance, the practice of 'jhumming', through which jungle areas are cleared by fire for cultivation, and timber trafficking destroy 40,000 hectares of forest land every year. The annual loss incurred by the government is estimated at $223,801. As a damage control measure, the state government has deployed mobile firefighting squads along national highways and roads bordering forests. Authorities in the state have plenty of incentive to preserve the plant. According to UN estimates, the bamboo trade in the north-east will be worth $125 billion in the next ten years and Mizoram's share will account for $100 billion. Mizoram, which accounts for 20 percent of the world's bamboo cultivation, has 23 species of the plant. Bamboo has a bittersweet relationship with the people of Mizoram. In 1959, a famine triggered by the widespread flowering of the plant claimed thousands of lives. It also gave birth to a raging tribal insurrection. Though many of the locals depend on bamboo, the mauve and crimson flowers of the plant spell disaster. These flowers reportedly sprout seeds that multiply reproduction in rats. In 1959, hordes of rats born because of the bamboo swarmed across paddy and grain fields in the state, devouring the crops on hill after hill. When Indian authorities failed to provide relief immediately, the anger and disillusionment of the tribals gave birth to the Mizo National Famine Front, an organization created to help people get relief. The MNFF later became an insurgent outfit called the Mizo National Front (MNF) and led a bloody two-decade rebellion against the federal government. After signing a peace accord with New Delhi in 1987, the onetime insurgent group now rules Mizoram, and is attempting to ensure the bamboo which helped it come to power doesn't become its nemesis. The government has initiated several development programs linked to bamboo and plans to set up a long-distance network of ropeways to transport the wood. Elucidates the chief minister's press information officer, F. Zahmingthanga, "The aim is to transport large quantities of bamboo from jungles to processing plants near Aizawl. This will also motivate the farmers to complete harvesting the plant by 2007. The Rail India Techno Economic Survey (RITES) (a subsidiary of Indian Railways) has been asked to draw up a blueprint. The government is also trying to guard against another flowering, which occurs in a 50-year cycle. Remarks Zahmingthanga, "A famine will not break out again as people have learnt from past experiences and most villages are now better connected. But it is difficult to cover all the bamboo growing areas before flowering and hence some damage to crops is unavoidable." Ominously, some of the bamboo plants in the state have already begun flowering. The state government is setting up a bamboo processing plant to manufacture products like bamboo mats, corrugated roofing sheets, wall boards, beams and posts, toothpicks, chopsticks and household items. The federal government will invest $65 billion for similar projects in Mizoram. Mizoram is also mulling an arrangement with a Belgium based company to jointly develop bamboo tissue culture technology for fresh cultivation, and has decided to import high-yielding bamboo seedlings from China for the purpose. |
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