A Thangyep mending a bamboo ma

27 January, 2010 - With spring around the corner, flower is a welcome sign for farmers as flowering plants and trees would mean a bountiful season ahead.

In Thangye village in Trongsa, villagers are worried at the sight of patches of bamboo plants flowering. They know that bamboo plants flowering are rare and that it would die soon. And they are worried because they depend entirely on bamboo products for livelihood.

Villagers of the eight households in Thangye, about five hours walk uphill from Jeezam, weave bamboo mats (brut) to dry grains, big baskets (ruung) to carry goods, containers (lom) to store grains and sieves (braa) used for husking rice which is bartered for rice, chilli and other necessities with the people living in lower villages of Simphu, Kaba, Daba, Chela, Pang, Chela and Jongthang villages. Few sell their products in Trongsa.

Thangyeps (people of Thangye) said that the bamboos first turned yellow before flowering and then died after bearing fruits.

Most Thangyeps do not own land and are worried. “We will die of hunger if the bamboo dies as we have no land to cultivate,” said a resident.  “All officials visiting our village tell us that we will be resettled but we will be deprived of what we are good at.”

Thangyeps fetch about 30 drey of red rice (one drey is about 1.5 kg) for a bamboo mat, six drey of rice and a basket of chili for baskets and containers. “I weave about 15 bamboo mats in a year,” Pasa said.

Pasa got into bamboo works at the age of six and said that what he earns from bamboo works is sufficient to sustain a family of six. “My sister also weaves and we hardly buy imported rice.”

The most popular species of bamboo used for weaving is borinda grossa, known as tsa locally.

Thangyeps use three parts of the bamboo to make different products. The outer part of the cane is used to make larger products that require greater strength and sturdiness. The inner part is used for the finer products and the tender shoots are consumed as vegetable.

Bamboo dying is not a good sign, village elders believe. “Small bamboo dying means animals will die and when taller bamboos die, disease would spread and humans will die too,” said Rinchen, 78.

The program director of renewable natural resource research centre, Dr. Lungten, told Kuensel that bamboo dying is a natural phenomenon. “Bamboo will complete its life cycle and die every 30 to 40 years,” he said. “But bamboo will re-grow after a year though it can be used only after five years.”

Dr. Lungten said that bamboo dying has its advantages as people can collect the seeds and grow it artificially in and around the settlement. 

Few patches of borinda grossa bamboo are spotted to be fruiting and dying even in Sephu gewog of Wangduephodrang. But Sephu gup Rinchen Penjor said that it will not affect the people much since most people have left the bamboo craft tradition.

There are 1,250 species of bamboo in the world, out of which 50 are widely distributed across Bhutan.