Form of words:
at the 69th Plenary Session In January 2021, the then Union Minister for North Eastern Council, Development of North Eastern Region, Dr Jitendra Singh had emphasized the potential of the region to become India’s growth engine especially in the post-Covid-19 pandemic. He highlighted bamboo as an area which also had the potential Complete the Atmanirbhar Bharat Mission of the Narendra Modi government. A comprehensive assessment on the occasion of World Bamboo Day reveals that this is indeed the case.
Domestic supply of raw bamboo in India falls short of domestic demand due to limited commercial plantations as about 70 per cent of bamboo resources, being in forested areas, were inaccessible until recently. Although reclassification In 2017, the ban on cutting and transporting bamboo as a “grass” and not as a “tree” was lifted, making it possible for the Northeast region, which accounts for two-thirds of India’s bamboo resources (or more than 11 million). metric ton raw bamboo), to increase its commercial plantations. As supply meets demand and cheap local produce becomes the first choice of bamboo industry, India’s staggering Import of raw bamboo from China and Vietnam Will stop, will give impetus to Modi government’s Atmanirbhar Bharat Mission.
Apart from being cheaper, raw bamboo produced in India is also a more suitable raw material preferred by the local industry. The sympodial bamboo variety (clump and cluster based) mostly found in the northeast, is thicker and shorter, and is preferred by Indian manufacturers over the Moso monopodial variety (without forming clumps) currently imported from China and Vietnam. Is performed. Following the change in law, the North Eastern Space Applications Center (NESAC) needs to expedite the district-wise bamboo-resource estimation, so that the government can meet the raw material requirements of not only existing users, but also in select districts. To promote bamboo plantation. Also as a business opportunity for new entrepreneurs looking for end-to-end product-based targeted forestry.
Nevertheless, mere amendments to the Indian Forest Act will not spur the bamboo industry as it suffers from low productivity.
Read also: Modi government wants more bamboo trade but has to end China, Vietnam control first
inefficient production processes
The authors’ own estimates of total factor productivity growth (TFPG) of the bamboo industry, using data from the annual survey of industries over the period 2009-10 to 2017-18, show that the production of bamboo industries is highly inefficient, Which indicates low value addition. , high cost of production and use of obsolete technology. For example, agarbatti manufacturers bear a high cost of production because most of the bamboo sticks are either unused or wasted in the production process, making incense sticks less competitive for cheap imports. In such situations, manufacturers need to think about cross-industry linkages that can increase the use of waste products. In this instance, unused bamboo sticks can be used to manufacture activated bamboo charcoal, which has a huge demand for making cosmetics and pharmaceuticals around the world, despite environmental restrictions on its export. As customs duty on bamboo sticks has been increased to 25 per cent to help domestic production of incense sticks, such cross-industry linkages become all the more important to reduce costs.
Scalability constraints also come in the way of increasing specific productivity by the handicraft sector of the bamboo industry. This labour-intensive sector exposed to unorganized and highly uncertain demand is against expansion. Here, the successful experience of the Khadi and Village Industries Commission can be replicated in creating handicraft clusters, promoting bamboo packaging as an alternative to ‘fashionable’ and ‘affordable’ plastics, and using e-commerce to increase marketability. can be done.
The bamboo industry also needs to address the challenge of meeting traceability criteria when using engineered bamboo to make bamboo products such as furniture. Traceability norms are proven compliance standards (related to expectations on environmental sustainability, animal welfare, social and working conditions) to be followed while sourcing natural resources. In the absence of adequate institutional traceability certificates, there are high compliance costs for small entrepreneurs and micro units. Here, the success of Tripura Forest Development and Plantation Corporation (TFDPC) in institutionalizing traceability norms across the Northeast can be reiterated. TFDPC has its own bamboo forestry with responsible forest management under Forest Management Council certification.
Read also: Everyone cheering Bamboo is no longer a tree in India, except in the Northeast
Bamboo Tourism and Super-Foods
Bamboo shoots are also in demand as the main super-food both in the East and in the West. The best varieties (sweet in taste) of bamboo shoots have been identified in the North-East. However, most bamboo shoots in the Northeast are harvested for personal consumption and the region remains largely unorganized, making the quality of the seedlings unreliable. As a result, retail buyers, including Indian restaurants, have shifted to costly imports. If bamboo shoots are harvested by setting up dedicated tissue culture laboratories as in South Korea, the desired level of fermentation will be achieved in the micro-propagation stage itself. The resultant standardization of the shoot will then enable its commercial transition.
Finally, revenue from bamboo tourism is another huge potential that has yet to be realized in the Northeast, given the way East Asian countries have developed bamboo parks as attractive tourist hotspots – Arashiyama Bamboo Grove in Kyoto being one such example. Is. Currently, visits to the bamboo forest in the Northeast are restricted to guests with special permits only and are yet to become mainstream. The first Bamboo Industrial Park in the Northeast in Dima Hasao (Assam) promises eco-tourism opportunities. Bamboo tourism will also help nurture “Bamboo Diplomacy”, given the geographical proximity of NER to ASEAN, their shared heritage and the large demand for bamboo products from countries in East Asia and South East Asia.
Bamboo and bamboo products present myriad opportunities waiting to be tapped through copying or scaling up of successful models found within and outside the Northeast region. While uncertainties related to COVID-19 and climate change loom, bamboo promises to provide resilience to vulnerable communities in the northeast as it survives the wind without cracking.
Bhaskar J. Kashyap is the Assistant Director of NITI Aayog and Rajiv Mishra is an advisor to the Department of Economic Affairs, Ministry of Finance. The officer is from the Indian Economic Service. Thoughts are personal.
(Edited by Anurag Choubey)
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