The News:

Mautam is the Mizo term for the gregarious flowering of bamboo in Mizoram state of India. The fallout of last year’s Mautam is emerging now. It has resulted in an explosion of rat population, devastating the crop fields, raising a gloomy spectre of a famine. Reportedly, armies of rodents have invaded paddy fields in rural Ajzawl district in the Mizoram State, Serchhip district and border areas of ¬Manipur state.

These episode have historically been occurred in 50-year cycles, reports The Hindu according to Press Trust of India (PTI). A state Agriculture Department official confirmed reports of destruction in many parts of the State.

The Background:

Gregarious flowering (masting) may be defined as simultaneous flowering in all the culms in clump and all the clumps in a population of a particular species of bamboo spread over a large geographical area, usually followed by death of clumps. Gregarious flowering of bamboo usually occurs periodically and interestingly, the period remains constant for a species in a specific area. Different evolutionary hypotheses are propounded to explain bamboo flowering but the reason behind this unique phenomenon is yet to be understood.

India is one of the few nations, where bamboo of many dozens of species is found in millions of hectares. Gregarious flowering is not new to Indians. Scientists have predicted that gregarious flowering of bamboo will occur in an estimated 18,000 sq km of area of in the States of Mizoram, Tripura, Manipur and parts of Assam and Meghalaya during 2005-2007. The flowering is predicted to concentrate in Mizoram.

In India, gregarious flowering of bamboo was recorded for the last time in the states of Mizoram, Tripura and Barak Valley of Assam in 1959. The extensive flowering is never seen as a boon for forest produce, instead people dreaded it and they are scared to death about the consequences. But why? Well, reads on!

Flowering of bamboo begins in September-October just after the South-West monsoon. The handful of initial inflorescences grows within a few weeks turning whole clumps into huge flowering clusters. The clumps will die after the flowers bore fruit. This is called as seed-shed and occurs in December. The thin layer of seeds that can be seen on the forest floor by January increases to great quantities cover the forest literally in a blanket of seeds, due to extensive flowering of a particular bamboo species spread across large areas simultaneously.

This unusual large scale seed-shed -- seem to demonstrate the rule of ecology -- attracts seed predators, mostly rodent species and their population explodes abnormally, due to abundant food supply. Now, when the summer rains start, the seeds germinate and in a few days, the forest floor is turned into a veritable green carpet of bamboo seedlings. The sudden cut in food forces the rodents to seek alternative sources. And they venture out of bamboo forests in millions and attack nearby farms. They gorge on standing crops, plunder the granaries resulting in famine in the wake of gregarious bamboo flowering.

Often, this led to socio-economic unrest and law and order problems. In 1959, such a severe famine left a fear psychosis in the minds of the people in certain affected areas. Creation of Mizo National Front (MNF) in India, in the sixties is often cited as a direct fallout, which culminated in the eventual creation of a separate Mizoram state!

Present Scenario:

Now, with the Muli Bamboo in a spate of flowering, the government started early efforts to contain the damages. The Rain Forest Research Institute (RFRI), Jorhat, Assam with the help of experts drawn from different national and international organizations, has chalked out plans. They recommended to focus on extraction and utilisation of bamboo before they flower. A detailed survey and mapping of bamboo resources in the N-E India is done and a bamboo flowering database is also planned, by roping in certain international organisations like the International Bamboo and Rattan Research Institute (INBAR), Beijing.

Such was the scale of efforts, that even the State and National Highways, inland waterways are gearing up to the task and paper mills are readying to consume only bamboo for production till flowering stops. It is also planned to set up mini-mechanical pulping units at forest areas to make high-density pulp sheets and blocks for economic transportation. Conversion of bamboo into high value products like laminated board, composite boards, railway sleeper boards, charcoal etc.

As these efforts are do not contain the menace 100%, the reports of crop damage are still appearing.