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Bamboo Felling Operation of Karnaphuli Paper Mills Ltd. at Kassalong Reserved Forest of Chittagong Hill Tracts: a Time and Production Study.

M. Mozaffar Hossain
Institute of Forestry and Environmental Sciences, University of Chittagong, Chittagong-4331, Bangladesh.

Arif MD. Faisal
Programme Officer,
IUCN-The World Conservation Union, Bangladesh Country Office, Dhaka-1212, Bangladesh.

Abstract/ Executive Summary:

FelIing operation of bamboo of Karnaphuli Paper MilIs Ltd. (KPM) was found purely manual and mostly done by tribal labor by using billhook (dao). It was observed from the time and production study that one tribal labor can fell about 200-300 number of 'muli' bamboo per working day (4-5 hours). From the felling regression model, it was found that only bottom thickness of bamboo is the significant variable among all other independent variables at 95% confidence level. It was revealed from the fitted model that delay-free mean felling cycle time was increased significantly with the increase of bottom thickness of the bamboo. It was also found that delay occurred to a small amount, which account for about 6% of the total operational time. Topping and debranching was the most time consuming (47%) work element of felling cycle time, for its unique branching system at the top portion of culm. It was observed from the study that, 598.40 meter bottom loss occurred per hectare area, which account for 1 bamboo culm lost when 16 bamboo culms were felIed. Average felIing production was found about 160 numbers of bamboo per hour and average felIing cost obtained was Tk. 0.20 per bamboo.

Keywords: Cycle time, Delay time, Work study, Yarding.

Location: Kassalong Reserved Forest of Chittagong Hill Tracts

Start Date:

End Date:

Program Area: Conservation and Biodiversity

Commodity: Bamboo

Objectives:

To enforce the rules of cutting which is generally not always possible in large scale operations, but it has been deserved in areas under exploitation for a long time, that in due course the labor becomes quite conversant with bamboo cutting rules.

Methodology:

Kamaphuli Paper Mills' Ltd. (KPM) mainly harvests 'muli' bamboo (Melocanna baccifera) and a few 'mitinga' bamboo (Bambusa tulda) from the leased area of Kassalong Reserved Forest of Chittagong Hill Tracts (CHTs). Other species of bamboo are not significant in number. About 98% and 65% bamboo use to be harvested from Kassalong reserved forest and Rainkheong reserve forest respectively. The time and production study were carried out in the compartment no. 67 and 71 in Massalong under Kassalong reserved forest. In each compartment, 25 bamboo culms were randomly selected for study. Felling starts in October and lasts for about 5 months. That is, harvesting operation was carried only in dry season when extraction site and road remained dry. The bamboo forests are located in hills which are generally not very high but are very rugged and broken terrain with steep slopes. The level of the valley bottoms ranges from 30 to 90 meters above the sea level and the maximum elevation within the reserved forest is just over 900 meters. Felling of bamboo involves the following operations, which are dealt with as under:

Felling of exploitable bamboo culms: Bamboo felling is purely manual work. Bamboos of age three years and up were cut manually with bill hook (dao) in one or two stroke at an angle (oblique cut) to the length of the bamboo. The rules of cutting are 15 cm to 30 cm above the ground. But in practice this rules are seldom followed by the laborer. It was found from the study that they cut 17 em to 73 cm above the ground. The average bottom portion left above the ground observed was 41.27cm. resulting a considerable portion of stump-loss. Enough mature bamboo culms were left to support the immature ones in the clumps. Felling of 'muli' bamboo is easier as it does not grow in clump, but cutting of 'mitinga' bamboo is complicated due to thorny as well as for clump formation.

Topping, debranching, notching and trimming to suitable length: The culms were then deb ranched and topped in order to facilitate further handling. Sometimes notching was done by cutting-labor to facilitate water transportation. Notching is hollow cut at the top of the bamboo. Notching is hollow cut at the top of the bamboo. This was then cut into 4 to 8 meter length as per requirement of KPM for chipping purposes. As a result all bamboo in mechanical cutting were not equal in size but in stream cutting the length was almost equal. Normally a 'muli' bamboo attains a height of 14 to 15 meter in natural condition. It was observed that about 3 to 6 meter top portions were discarded and left in the forest floor.

Bundling and carrying to landing or loading point: The sized bamboos are then tied with bamboo strings (which are made of the surface portion of immature bamboo and locally called 'beti') into bundles. The bundles usually contain 10 pieces of 'muli' bamboo or 5 'mitinga' bamboos, so that weight of each bamboo bundle can be handled by shoulder carriage to the nearest loading point or landing site. The weight of one bundle containing 10 'muli' bamboos is about 20 - 25 kg depending on the thickness, diameter and length of bamboo.

The labor cost associated with felling operation was collected by interviewing the labor and contractor. The secondary cost data were also collected from fibrous raw materials (FRM) department of KPM. Total working period is 5-6 hours per day. About 100-150 labors were engaged in felling operation. They work from 8 am to 2 pm forming a group of 6-12 persons in each compartment. Each group is supervised by a group leader or headman, which is locally called 'majhee'. 'Majhees' also sometimes act as labor suppliers and make coordination between labors and contractor. KPM carries out the extraction program by employing contractors who get the job done by hiring labors. The labors come from two sources, viz. tribal labor and plain land labor. It was observed during study period that majority of the felling labors were tribal (about 90%). The tribal labors refused to work more than 4 -5 days in a week and their average productivity was low compared to plain land labors. Recording of time for different work elements in bamboo felling operations like cutting, topping, debranching and notching time were done by stopwatch. The diameter of bamboo at bottom and top ends were measured by diameter tape and length was measured by meter tape. Thickness of bamboo at top and bottom ends were measured by slide callipers. In each compartment, two labors were selected for observation. So, 50 observations were taken from two labors in two different compartments.

Source of Information: JOURNAL OF FORESTRY & ENVIRONMENT 3:45 - 52, 2005

Article Link (Online Journal):

Funding Source:

Total Budget (Tk.) :

Achievement/Findings:

The problem in bamboo harvesting is the felling and carrying it to the transport point. Cutting of culm through the interlocked clumps manually is a hard job. Besides the traditional manual felling method is wasteful because in dense clumps, the workers cut very high from the ground and also leave some uncut in the forest. In addition to the bottom loss, top loss is also a significant position of total length of bamboo. If mill authority employ mobile chipper in the site, the wastage may be greatly reduced. Adoption of appropriate technology, employing skill workers, training of workers and making them aware of losses associated with the felling can reduce wastage, improve productivity and hence will reduce harvesting cost.

Knowledge Management: Journal