DIMAPUR, AUGUST 19 (MExN): The Nagaland Bamboo Development Agency and the Arunachal Ply Industries Ltd jointly sponsored an exposure trip from August 16 to the 18th for the Anaki and Tuli bamboo cluster Village Bamboo Development Committee members to visit the bamboo mat board manufacturing unit of APIL located at Namsai, Arunachal Pradesh, informed Alem Longkumer, Member, NBM-IT.
The Nagaland Bamboo Development Agency in its endeavor to achieve the objectives envisaged in the State Bamboo Policy statement has with the support of the National Mission on Bamboo Applications activated market linkage for production of bamboo mats and supply from the state.
Anaki and Tuli bamboo cluster consisting of seven villages was identified for production of the bamboo mats by virtue of abundant bamboo raw material available in the area augmented by the existing local mat weaving skills of the villagers. Market linkage with APIL was established wherein an arrangement was made with APIL to purchase the mats produced by the cluster villages. The production and supply of bamboo mats by the cluster villages to APIL was operationalised in March 2006.
This activity of the cluster villages is now generating about 2000 man-hours of monthly employment to the people of the cluster and income to the tune of Rs 2.58 lakh monthly is being realized.
The production and supply of mats by the cluster villages is further set to improve with the active support and cooperation of APIL in this venture. Introduction of more villages into the activity and mechanization of the mats production to meet the monthly requirement of 20,000 mats by APIL is proposed to be taken up in the immediate future.
The present exposure trip was organized to give first-hand information and knowledge to the cluster actors on the processing technology of bamboo mat boards and the utility of the bamboo mats in the process with the intention to provide a boost to the ongoing production and supply activity of mats. Twenty representatives of the Village Bamboo Development Committees/mat weavers from the seven villages under the cluster and NBDA official undertook the trip. The exposure trip was jointly sponsored by the NBDA and APIL.
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