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Economic Potential Of Bamboo In the North-East
The Northeast region has abundant bamboo resource. 65% of bamboo in the country and 20% of the world are grown in the region. 1250 species of bamboo in 75 genera are available in the world. Next to China, India has the richest bamboo genetic resources in 136 species including eleven exotic species out of which 58 species belonging to 10 genera are found in the Northeast. According to Technology Information, Forecasting and Assessment Council (TIFAC), a leader in bamboo technology and bamboo project implementation, there are nearly two thousand recorded uses of bamboo now as fuel, fodder, food, firewood, laminates, furniture, mates, construction material, chop stick, tooth pick, musical instruments, vinegar, beer, activated carbon, steel and cement. According to International Network for Bamboo and Rattan (INBAR) with headquarters in Beijing, China, which implements bamboo projects worldwide, millions of people depend on this plant for their livelihood. TIFAC is planning to produce electricity soon from bamboo through gasification.

According to United Nation’s Industrial Development Organization (UNIDO), the bamboo business in the Northeast region would be worth Rs. 5,000 crores in the next 10 years. National Mission on Bamboo Technology and Trade Development envisages expansion of the India’s bamboo market to US $5.5 billion by 2015. This is an achievable objective as the bamboo economy is largely unorganized and therefore will respond quickly to systematic improvement as envisaged under the mission. This will create economy growth with stronger thrust on employment generation. The mission aims to implement an action program with the objective of placing bamboo as a key component in the National effort to generate employment and mitigate environmental degradation and strengthen the process of bamboo base industrial development including handicrafts.

According to the Forest Survey of India Report the total forest area under bamboo is 8.96 million ha, which is about 12.8 % of total forest area. The estimated annual harvest of bamboo in India, which is being put to different uses, is about 13.47 million tonnes against the demand estimated at 26.69 million tonnes. There is a huge gap between the present and potential yield. Even the current supply is largely used for subsistence purposes in food, shelter, footbridges, fencings and industrials activities. Hence, the need for new bamboo plantation, which will be in the nature of ‘Industrial Plantation’ to raise special purpose/species needed by the industry or crafts as, may be identified. Appropriate selection of site, choice of species, protection and silviculture tending, sound management practices, proper harvest, post harvest treatments and usages are essential steps for value added products and can raise productivity substantially.

Due to flowering nature of bamboo no genetic improvement strategies are currently available and therefore Bamboo Production Technology has to be necessarily seed based i.e. through seeds offsets and culmcutting, which necessitates seed production, multiplication and storage centers. Employment is generated in all these stages.

The potential of bamboo as an economic resource capable of generating employment for the rural poor and the skilled and semi-skilled labor in plantation and others in various value addition activities has remained largely untapped due to lack of an appropriate policy and institutional framework, covering plantation with community involvement, technology upgradation, product and market development. In the Bamboo Development Strategy envisaged under the Mission, the growing and primary processing of bamboo will be a function of the community while all value addition and commercial activities such as processing, manufacturing and trading can be taken up by entrepreneurs in the private sectors.

A major plank of the strategy adopted by the Mission is to bring an additional six million hectares under bamboo in the forest and areas outside the forest in a ten year period covering Tenth and Eleventh Plan. On the basis of the estimate that one ha. of new plantations would generate 28 million man days or about 0.1 million person years of employment. Two million rural poor artisans who are currently living below subsistence level will be provided with gainful employment due to increase availability of work arising out of expanded handicraft, cottage and tiny sector. In addition, the handicraft, cottage and tiny sector will create three million new jobs for the artisans. It is also estimated that due to availability of Bamboo, there will be improvement in capacity utilization of sick plywood factories leading to increased —output and rehabilitation of 3.5 million workers, who have been rendered unemployed due to closure.

The potential growth areas to start within 2005 are: a) Bamboo shoot (Rs. 105 cr.); b) bamboo based boards (Rs.1000 cr.); c) bamboo flooring board (Rs. 200 cr.); d) paper and pulp industry (Rs. 990 cr.); e) bamboo furniture (Rs. 380 cr.); f) building and construction (Rs. 550 cr.); and g) Road construction (Rs. 274 cr.). The total size of the agarbatti, pencil, matchsticks, ice cream stick, venetian blind and other miscellaneous items, may increase by about Rs. 200 cr.

Bamboo has a big potential for generating employment. The National Mission on Bamboo aims at creating 8.6 million jobs and at helping five million families to cross the poverty line. According to APJ Abdul Kalam, the President of India in his message on the National Mission on Bamboo Technology and Trade Development said, ‘Bamboo is unique species which can provide employment to the rural population. In addition, its nutritional value for removing micro-nutrient deficiency and anaemia makes it suitable for a major thrust. I am sure that this mission will be one of the instruments for poverty eradication and as such will require concerted efforts by the farming community, scientist, craft persons, entrepreneurs and Government agencies to achieve that objective’.

(This article was made available by People's Socio-Economic Development Organization, Manipur)

Courtesy: The Sangai Express

  

 

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