KALPETTA: The tribal folk living on the brink of the jungle and in the interiors of Wayanad Wildlife Sanctuary, here, have found a new way of earning selling bamboo rice.
With ubiquitous flowering of bamboo groves, this year it is joyous harvest season for tribesmen and other indigenous communities who collect bamboo seeds shedding around bamboo clusters on a regular basis. Small groups predominantly women and children, collecting bamboo seeds, is a common scene in the expansive jungle tracts of the district.
When 'Express' visited Kurichiad, an interior tribal hamlet, recently, the tribal folk were busy collecting bamboo seeds. "We keep the surroundings of bamboo clusters clean as we could collect the seeds easily," says Chandran, a resident of the settlement. He said that it is for the first time he witnessed bamboo flowering in the locality. "Usually we sell unprocessed seeds for Rs 50 to Rs 70 a kilogram at the shops in Sulthan Bathery and Pulppalli, from which women and children who stay back at home would make an additional income," he added.
The Sulthan Bathery Scheduled Tribes Cooperative Society based at Kalloor, near Sulthan Bathery had collected 11,000 kg rice (with husk), distributing an amount of Rs 4,40,000 for tribals as price. "We have paid Rs 40/kg and the collection season is almost over," said P M George, secretary of the society.
Talking to 'Express', he said that the society collected only the rice from Muthanga Range of the Wayanad Wildlife Sanctuary and surroundings. "The processed rice is priced at Rs 100," he said.
The total procurement and sale of bamboo rice in the district would be many fold higher, it is learnt. "But in the open market the price is up to Rs 200/kg," says Thomas Ambalavayal of Uravu, an NGO based at Thrikkeipatta near Muttil.
With a wheatlike taste, bamboo rice is comparatively much richer in protein. Good substitute for rice, the local people here prepare a wide range of delicious food items using bamboo rice including payasam, unniappam, uppumavu and puttu. "The bamboo rice has high nutritional value than the rice from paddy," said Dr Seethalakshmi, a scientist at Kerala Forest Research Institute (KFRI), Thrissur.
In the past such gregarious flowering was reported in the district in 1911 and later in 1990s. The thorny variety of bamboo (bambusa bamboos), found in abundance in the district, is classified as monocarpic.
"The recent continuous and wide flowering of bamboo had started since 2005," says K K Sunilkumar, DFO, South Wayanad Forest Division. "Normally bamboo clusters flower once in 12 years and the flowering process is almost at its last phase in the region," he added.