Fading landscapes, barren bamboo forests and empty granaries are misfortunes that bamboo flowering augurs for farmers in Assam's North Cachar Hills district, with the threat of famine looming large in the area.
The flowering is also of concern for two Hindustan Paper Corporation mills in neighbouring Cachar and Morigaon districts as they are fed by bamboo from North Cachar Hills. The cricket ball-sized flowers have sprouted along entire lengths of bamboo stalks to produce a huge volume of seeds that attract thousands of rats, which feed on them as they are very nutritious, say agriculture and forest experts. The gregarious flowering since last year, which has now engulfed 40 per cent of bamboo forests across the district, has occurred in the most common bamboo species -- Melcana Baccifera (Muli). And the flowers are threatening to create a famine, a phenomenon the district has witnessed every 50 years due to the cyclical flowering. Previous recorded famines were in 1862, 1911 and 1958-62. Agricultural experts said the marauding army of rats, which multiply quickly, eventually turn to paddy, potato plants and grain in granaries, leading to famine or 'mautam', the name given to the phenomenon in Mizoram which literally means "death of bamboo". KOUSHIK HAZARIKA http://asom.co.nr
