“Bamboo and the environment”- The grass grows in balaghat

Abstract

Bamboos play very important role in the socio economic and culture lives of Balaghat District there are bamboo resource available throughout the district in natural as well as plantation forest .Mostly planted by farmers in their own yards and by the community in communities forest lands Bamboo is an integral part of the lives of the tribal people living in the Balaghat district of Madhya Pradesh .Bamboo in crucial as material for very large number of house hold and utility items and also as a source of income (both in cash and kind) for same .For these reason bamboo is an ideal starting point for a people centered development approach .A craft tradition is in existence in the area and the resource is available locally at low cost there is local market for bamboo articles and scope for expanding the market for these goods .starting with a better definition of the resource base indigenous knowledge about the resource and an improved understanding of the opportunities and constraints in processing and marketing bamboo products, the paper aims to use bamboo as a tool to strengthen tribal culture and provide a means to deal with market forces in a rapidly changing world.The bamboos are an incredibly versatile and useful group of plants. Bamboos have been used by people in imaginative and widely varied ways where ever they are found they have long histories of use and play important roles in the daily lives of millions of people .Further more and especially important in these days of rapid environmental degradation they are highly renewable resource .Therefore research on bamboo can help improve the efficiency of production, processing and marketing of bamboo products and stimulate development.