Blooming Bamboo Raises Spectre Of Famine In India's Northeast

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AIZAWL, India - "Christians in India’s remote northeast are flocking to churches to offer prayers in a bid to ward off a famine they fear could strike the region anytime. The worry has been triggered by signs that vast tracts of bamboo forest are about to burst into flower - an event mainly Christian Mizoram state believes signals impending catastrophe.

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Behind the superstition lies some scientific truth, as blooming bamboo can trigger an invasion of rats, which proceed to eat away food supplies.

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The government and those praying have history on their side to back up their worries. The British, India’s former colonial rulers, noticed the effects of bamboo flowering when they recorded a famine in 1862 in Mizoram and a second in 1881, historical accounts say. A 1911-1912 famine is also believed to have been linked to flowering bamboo. And in 1959, flowering bamboo in the states of Mizoram, Tripura, Manipur and part of Assam heralded a famine that claimed 10,000 to 15,000 lives.

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“Why bamboo clumps flower remains a mystery but it is believed to be caused by a characteristic that makes them grow in unison, then bloom,” said D. Das, a professor at Assam Agriculture University. “The flowering of bamboo produces huge seeds that attracts predators, mostly rats,” he said. Strengthened by the protein-rich seeds, the rodents multiply quickly. When the seeds are exhausted, armies of rats chomp their way through rice and potato crops and granaries, causing famine."

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[Boomer]

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