Mautam

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Photograph of flowering bamboo

Mautam (Mizo, ’bamboo death’; also spelt mautaam) is a cyclic ecological phenomenon that occurs every 48 years in the northeastern Indian state of Mizoram, which is thirty percent covered by wild bamboo forests. At this time, Melocanna baccifera, a species of bamboo, flowers at one time across a wide range, followed invariably by a plague of bandicoot rats, which multiply in response to the temporary windfall of seeds; they subsequently turn to forage on stored grain, which in turn causes devastating famine.^[1] In the past, famines caused by this phenomenon have played a significant part in shaping the region's political history. The most recent spate of flowering, on the bamboo species' genetically-linked timetable, began in May 2006, and the state government and the Indian Army are attempting to prevent a famine.

1 Mechanism
2 References
3 See also
4 External links

[edit] Mechanism

After flowering, the bamboo dies and regenerates from the seeds. The rodents feast on these seeds which are available in plenty, which as an indirect consequence, causes a sudden boom in its population. The action of the rats is thought to be an ecological control mechanism. The seeds of any culm of bamboo that might flower off-cycle are all eaten up by rodents, thus reinforcing the rhythm of this extreme version of a mast year. Some experts believe that the flower has a positive effect on the fertility of the rats, as well as on increasing the viable size of a rat litter. All available explanations point to the fact that the increase in their numbers during the peak year is a natural after-effect of the flowering of the bamboos.

However, once they exhaust this temporarily abundant food supply, they turn their attention to cultivated crops. Records from the British Raj indicate that Mizoram suffered famine in 1862 and again in 1911, after the region witnessed similar bamboo flowerings. In each case, the records suggest that the flowering of the bamboo leads to a dramatic increase in the local rat population. The increase led to raids on granaries and the destruction of paddy fields, and subsequently to a year-long famine.

The 1958–1959 Mautam resulted in the recorded deaths of at least a hundred people, besides heavy loss to human property and crops. Some elderly villagers in the undeveloped more traditional region, recalling this event, have claimed that their warnings based on folk traditions were dismissed as superstition by the Government of Assam, which then ruled what is now the state of Mizoram. It has been estimated that around two million rats were killed and collected by the locals, after a bounty of 40 paisa (approximately 1 US cent according to present-day rates) was placed on each. However, even after the increase in the rat population was noted, preparations by the government to avoid a famine were limited.

This negligence led to the foundation of the Mizo National Famine Front, set up to provide relief to the far-flung areas; the front later became the Mizo National Front, which, under former Chief Minister Laldenga, fought a bitter separatist struggle for twenty years against the Indian Army until an accord that guaranteed Mizoram's autonomy as a separate state was signed in 1986.

The present government under Chief Minister Zoramthanga, a former guerilla leader, has been preparing for the predicted 2006 Mautam for two years. However, in June 2006, the Indian Army was pressed into service as an emergency measure to assist the state administration in reaching remote areas. The state administration has arranged for alternate food crops to be grown locally; and has also arranged for the army to provide instructions on pest control. Villagers are also being encouraged to grow turmeric and ginger, partially as an insurance against variations in purchasing power, and also because the aromatic spices ward off rodent raids.

Regular rodent outbreaks associated with bamboo flowering (and subsequent fruiting and seeding) also occur in the nearby Indian states of Arunachal Pradesh, Manipur, and Nagaland^[2], as well as in Laos, Japan, Madagascar and South America.^[3] Thingtam, a similar famine, occurs with the flowering of another bamboo, Bambusa tulda.^[4]