PEOPLE AND THEIR PROBLEMS

New Delhi, 19 November, 2005

India’s Export Potential

BAMBOO TO BOOST DEVELOPMENT

By Radhakrishna Rao

Described as the "green gold of the forest" and a "noble grass of multiple uses", the lean, tall and fast growing bamboo has become a major foreign exchange earner for China which has not only more than  one million hectares under bamboo cultivation but also has an active programme to manufacture high quality, innovative bamboo based products.  No wonder then that last year China earned US$130-million through the export of bamboo products in the ecologically conscious global market.

In contrast, India's track record in producing and exporting bamboo products is far from edifying. Of course, India has  now  recognised the potential of the international  market for bamboo products and has  launched many initiatives aimed at  producing and marketing bamboo products, both in the domestic and global market.

Taking a cue from China, Thailand has taken to growing edible variety of bamboo in a big way. Indeed bamboo cultivation has become a catalyst of growth in many villages of Thailand. Many other countries of S.E Asia have found in bamboo a versatile natural raw material to manufacture a mindboggling range of products-from the toothpick to basket,  from mats and musical instruments to furniture and toys.

Bamboo is also the most sought after raw material used in the paper and rayon industry. It is also used for producing activated carbon, joss sticks, match sticks, charcoal and panelling boards. Bamboo beer, wine and vinegar are quite popular in many parts of S.E. Asia.

In recent years, bamboo has been adopted for fabricating a gorgeous range of flooring tiles, high strength composites and as a reinforcement in the concrete. Bamboo shoot is the widely favoured delicacy not only in many parts of western and southern India but also in South East Asia and China.

The Bangalore-based Indian plywood Industries Research and Training Institute (IPIRTI) has perfected the technology of building houses made of bamboo products. Efforts  are now to popularise such inexpensive, eco-riendly bamboo dwellings in the rural areas of India in a big way. In Thailand, the Bangkok based Thailand Institute of Scientific and  Technological Research has developed technology for building bamboo- based houses.

In India, the National Mission on Bamboo unveiled by the Department of Science and Technology seeks to popularise  the technologies and processes  to fabricate  value added products out  of bamboo. The hilly State of Uttaranchal, two-third  of which is under the forest cover a set up a Bamboo and Fibre Development Board with a view to popularise  the cultivation  of bamboo and boost rural employment.

Similarly, the state of Orissa too is looking at bamboo as a means to mitigate rural poverty. Chattisgarh, Jharkand, Orissa, Madhya Pradesh and Maharashtra are the major bamboo growing states in India. However, the mountainous north east India account for 65% of the total bamboo harvested in India. "The bamboo resources of north east India are immense" says Kamesh Salam, Director of the Cane and Bamboo Technology Centre (CBTC) at Guwhati.

Many industrial units in South India are forced to get their bamboo requirements from the North-East. For the once abundant bamboo resources of the biologically rich Western Ghats which covers a large part of S. India have all but disappeared due to overexploitation and ecological disturbances. The scarcity of bamboo has hurt many rural artisan communities in the State of Karnataka. Ecologists also point out that bamboo could be an ideal substitute to wood. For instance bamboo is now used to make plyboards and match sticks, both of which once depended on wood. 

However, the Indian paper mills which originally started its operations with bamboo as  raw material as now shifted to wood on account of the scarcity and high price of bamboo. For instance, JK Paper Mills located one of its units at Koraput in Orissa on account of the liberal availability of bamboo. But with the supply of bamboo becoming scarce and erratic, the paper mill has been forced to modify its production technology with wood as the raw material. For many years now, the Indian paper industry has been urging the Government to lease out the revenue wasteland for raising bamboo plantations.

Bamboo is also considered an eco friendly species that can be used to restore the health of the degraded land stretches. However, there is a huge demand and supply gap in India; while the demand for bamboo is pegged at 26.69-million tonnes the supply is just around 13.47-million tonnes. Paper and rayon industry, cottage industries and building sector are the major consumer of bamboo in the country.

From the traditional weapons of the aboriginals to the scaffoldings of the modern high rise buildings, bamboo continues to play a vital role in human civilisation. The uses to which bamboo can be put is determined only by the imagination. As the Chinese philosopher  Pou  Son Tong said, ""A meal should have meat but a house must have a bamboo. Without bamboo, we lose serenity and culture itself".

Bamboo's most fascinating and mysterious aspect is its interesting flowering cycle. Depending on the species, flowering takes place anywhere between 60 and 120 years. Flowering is spread over a year or two.  It is gregarious in nature. The bamboo dies after  flowering because the old leaves fall and instead of being followed by  regeneration are generally replaced by flowers. And when bamboo flowers bloom and die, the bamboo plantations are clear felled. Ecologists on their part point out that the destruction of bamboo forests means a sever disturbance in the finely tuned and closed forest eco system.---INFA

 (Copyright, India News & Feature Alliance)