Severe Threat: Rampant Logging Imperils Kashmir's Cricket Bat Industry

 

Severe Threat: Rampant Logging Imperils Kashmir's Cricket Bat Industry

When the Cricket World Cup kicks off in India next month, several players will wield Kashmiri willow wood bats. However, manufacturers warn that the unchecked logging of these trees is pushing their craft towards disaster.

Unregulated logging, without adequate reforestation efforts, has transformed significant stretches of woodland into scrubland in the disputed Indian-administered Himalayan region. This poses a grave threat to bat manufacturers.

Irfan Ali Shah, a senior official in the government's forest service, grimly stated, "It's a case of culling all the time and no sowing."

Willow trees, essential for crafting cricket bats, grow much slower than the commercially favored poplar. This disparity in growth rates puts the entire industry, which provides substantial employment, in jeopardy.

Fawzul Kabiir, the proprietor of GR8 bats, whose products are International Cricket Council-approved and distributed worldwide, lamented, "We have started exploring the remotest corners of the valley, but there is a scarcity of quality willow wood for making top-notch bats. If the government doesn't undertake large-scale replanting soon, we will exhaust our raw material in three to five years."

White willows, scientifically known as Salix alba, are water-loving deciduous trees that can reach heights of up to 30 meters (100 feet). During the 19th century under British colonial rule, these trees multiplied significantly, thanks to plantations established for firewood to combat the harsh mountain winters. The abundance of willow wood, preferred by cricketers, sparked the craft of bat-making.

Willow wood boasts interwoven fibers that provide strength and tiny air pockets that dampen vibrations. This combination makes willow wood lightweight yet powerful enough to send a cricket ball sailing for six runs.

Traditionally, international cricket stars favored willow wood from England. However, the same type of tree grows in Kashmir, where the region now produces roughly three million "clefts" annually—the rough-cut wooden blocks essential for shaping bats. Kashmir supplies the majority of the world's willow wood for cricket bats, and bat-maker Kabiir, aged 31, asserts, "The best Kashmir willow bat is at least as good as English willow."

GR8 claims illustrious customers, including cricketing legends like India's Sachin Tendulkar and Virat Kohli, Australia's Steve Waugh, and South Africa's Graeme Smith and AB de Villiers.

Over the years, Kashmir's bat-making industry thrived as cricket's popularity soared, particularly after India's 1983 World Cup victory. Today, the industry sustains approximately 120,000 jobs across 400 workshops and is a vital contributor to Kashmir's economy—a region claimed by both India and Pakistan but divided between them.

However, the supply of willow wood is rapidly dwindling. Agricultural scientists at Sher-e-Kashmir University have issued warnings that female willow trees, most suitable for bat-making, are facing "near extermination" in Kashmir. Nearly one million trees were felled over the past decade as the government removed plantations that were draining water from the shrinking Wular lake—a site protected under the United Nations Ramsar Convention. In other areas, willow trees have been cleared to make way for farmland and rice paddies. 

The demand for timber from various industries, including plywood and pencil production, has led some to replace willow with faster-growing poplar. Feroz Ahmed Reshi, whose family has been supplying willow wood to bat makers for generations, explains, "A willow tree takes 30 years to mature, while poplar only takes half that time, yet they fetch the same price. This year, we planted 300 poplars and only about five willows."

The government banned the export of clefts to other parts of India or overseas 25 years ago in an effort to curb logging and promote the local industry. However, this law is frequently violated, with approximately 100,000 clefts being illegally sent elsewhere each year, according to an official from a bat-makers association.

In the past, authorities used to plant willow trees on state-owned land to ensure a steady supply of firewood. But these efforts ceased decades ago as electricity and gas became readily available for heating.

Shah, the forestry official, believes that bat-makers must take responsibility for replanting willow trees on their own land to replace each one that is cut down. However, private land in Kashmir is scarce, and prices have surged since New Delhi revoked the region's semi-autonomous status and imposed direct rule in 2019. This policy allowed individuals from outside the region to purchase land, a move criticized as "settler colonialism" by some.

GR8's factory and showroom are located in the small town of Sangam, the hub of the bat industry. Tourists flock to this town to purchase cricket bats from various stores, spending anywhere from $12 to $180. Owner Kabiir emphasizes, "This is our SOS to the government. We cannot do it alone."