Home ›› 16 Oct 2021 ›› Nation
At least 50,000 people in the Chittagong Hill Tracts are dependent on bamboo to make their livelihoods as the giant plant from the grass family grows naturally in the hills in abundance.
Baghaichari and Kawkhali upazilas of Rangamati supply over 90 per cent of bamboos grown in the hills and forests of Baghaichhari, Sajek, Kachalong, Raikhhong, Barmachair and Lakkhichari are famous for bamboo production.
Transportation of bamboos bundled in long rafts is a common scene in the rivers of CHT.
According to the Bangladesh Forest Research Institute, there are 35 species of bamboo in CHT forests. Of those Pencha, Paiya, Lathi, Mirtinga, Kali, Lotha, Muli, Dolu, Ora, Baijja, and Wappi species are most commonly found and marketed in hilly areas.
Several thousand people from more than 70 villages collect different varieties of bamboo from the forests every day and take them to makeshift markets in Kawkhali along the Ichamati River and its tributaries.
After cutting the bamboos, they bundle them up with 50 or 100 pieces of bamboo and make giant rafts to transport them to their homes or the local market.
There are seven makeshift bamboo markets in Kawkhali and they sit four days a week. The market sits along the Ichamati River on Mondays, along the Kawkhali River on Thursdays, at Betchhari and Kalampati on Fridays, and at Doluparamukh and Barmachharimukh on Tuesdays.
According to the market sources, over four lakh pieces of bamboo are sold in these markets each week.
“If we set an average price of Tk 20 for a piece, bamboos worth Tk 80 lakh are marketed each week. Bamboos worth Tk 3 crore are marketed a month,” said Shahidul Alam, 45,a bamboo trader, who came from Cumilla to buy a large amount of bamboo from Kawkhali Bazar. His fellow trader Md Sanaullah, 35, also echoed the same.
Padmadhar Chakma, 40, a bamboo seller at Kawkhali Bazar, told The Business Post that the prices of bamboo depend on length, variety, and differentiation of their use. Bamboo has a great demand for its wide variety of use.
Babudhan Chakma, 36, of Badalchhari, another seller at the market, told The Business Post 100 pieces of bamboos of Muli, Mitinga, and Paiya varieties with 12 feet to 16 feet length sell at Tk 2,800. Ora variety sells between Tk 5,000 and Tk 6000 per 100 pieces, and Baijja variety sells between Tk 15,000 and Tk 27,000 per 100 pieces based on their lengths, he added.
Though bamboos grow naturally, the hill people also plant bamboo seedlings in the Bengali months of Ashar and Shraban, locals said.
Despite bamboo grows in abundance, the production rate was reduced for indiscriminately cutting shoots for human consumption prompting the authorities to impose a ban on cutting bamboo shoots from June to August.
Dr Rafiqul Haider, chief research officer at BFRI, said the CHT is one of the largest producers of bamboo in the country and if the production is hampered, there will be a serious scarcity of bamboo. The government will also lose crores of taka in revenue from this natural resource, he added.
The Karnaphuli Paper Mill is dependent on bamboos grown in the hills but now the mill is facing closure for shortage in bamboo supply.
“We are trying to increase awareness among local people through community leaders,” he said.
