Andhra Pradesh

Bamboo is estimated to occur over an area of 9,883 sq.kms. It is distributed extensively in the districts of Adilabad, Khammam, Mahabubnagar, East Godavari, West Godavari, Visakhapatnam and Kurnool. Small patches of bamboo forests are also found in Srikakulam, Warangal, Prakasham and Chittor districts.
The dominant species are Dendrocalamus strictus, Bambusa bambos and Dendrocalamus hamiltonii.

Bamboo areas in Andhra Pradesh
(Coverage in square kilometers)
Source: Facts & Figures: AP Forest Department

Under a World Bank aided forestry project 70,536 hectares were treated for improving bamboo stocking. This included soil moisture conservation works, mounding at the base of clumps and enrichment planting.  An important feature was the involvement of people through Vana Samrakshna Samithies (VSS); 110 VSSs were involved in bamboo stock improvement activities.  The Forest Department has since initiated steps for extraction over an area of 6030 hectares, the benefits from which will be shared by Vana Samrakshna Samithies.

The growing stock of bamboo in the State is 3.8 million tonnes.  About 2 lakh metric tonnes are removed annually of which around 1 lakh tonnes are supplied to the three paper mills in the State. 1 lakh tonnes are made available to domestic sectors and Burood societies.

Burood societies comprising of medharas (professional bamboo workers) are  consumers of bamboo for making baskets, mats and other articles.  As a welfare measure bamboo is supplied to local artisans (through Burood societies) at concessional rates fixed by the Government each year. There are around 300 burood societies, with a membership of about 12,000 medharas.

Transit and access regime:

There is no restriction on raising bamboo plantations or cultivating bamboo in private, institutional or community land. There is no restriction as well in felling or extraction of bamboo by the agency owning bamboo resources on these lands, except if it falls under scheduled areas of the State. In such cases felling permission from the Collector is required.

Transportation of bamboo within or outside the State requires a transit permit to be issued by the concerned Divisional Forest Officer. The transit permit and the felling permission, as the case may be, is issued after enquiry and confirmation of the land ownership by the Revenue Department and after assessment of the yield of plantation/crop by the Forest Department. Issuance of such permits may take fom a week to a month depending on documents produced and the quantity of bamboo to be assessed. 

For bamboo in the forests falling in CFM (Community Forest Management) areas, communities have been provided 100% ownership rights, and extraction and management of bamboo is to be done as per micro-plans formulated by the Forest Department, which form part of the related Working Plan of the Forests. These communities can dispose of the bamboo through auction/sale. In case the Forest Department incurs any costs in extraction, transportation and depot charges, these costs would be reimbursed to the Forest Department from the auction/sale earning.

For bamboo in the forests and falling outside CFM areas, the Forest Department has ownership rights; extraction and management of bamboo is done as per prescriptions of the approved Working Plan. Extracted bamboo in these cases is brought to depots and disposed off through auction, after supplying part of bamboo to identified bamboo artisans (buroods) to meet their needs which is done at pre-determined rates of royalty.

For bamboo originating inside forest areas, transit permits are issued based on auction/sale records and payment of required dues for the same.