Kohima, September 16 (DIPR): ‘Bamboo is indeed tailor made for rural development, and this God-given resource has the potential to change the face of our rural economy’, said State Chief Minister, Neiphiu Rio while addressing the inaugural function of the two-day international seminar on ‘Bamboo for livelihood and community development’ at Heritage Bamboo Hall, Kisama. He said that unlike other industrial raw materials, bamboo can be mechanically processed, it is people based.
Stating that ‘bamboo growing’ is an ideal enterprise for poor farmers, Rio said that it is a good substitute for timber and its ability to sequester about 35% more carbon than trees in its growing process makes it an ideal tool for mitigation interventions against global warming. Handicraft is another viable option that can bring in large incomes to the rural people.
Nagaland announced Bamboo Policy in 2004 and perhaps is one of the first Bamboo Policies initiated by any States in India, Rio said. He said that the Policy looks at the development of bamboo as ‘resource’ covering the area of plantation and regeneration, and bamboo ‘enterprise’ covering the area of livelihood, applications, industries and technology. He said that the State has progressed substantially since the policy was put in to effect, and since then, Nagaland has also managed to set up a Nagaland Bamboo Resource at Dimapur which is amongst the largest available in India today.
In Nagaland, Rio said that the basic approach for the development of bamboo in the rural areas has been the formation of the Village Bamboo Development Committees through whom the funds for bamboo development are transferred to the village and the beneficiaries. He said that over 21,000 hectares of plantation has been created in three years and one of the successful experiments has been the Anaki village cluster which has earned over Rs. 36.00 lakhs per annum from bamboo mats that are supplied to Arunachal Pradesh Industries Ltd.
Rio appreciated the National Bamboo Mission for their keen interest and deep concerns for the development of bamboo.
He also said that the State is looking to the National Mission on Bamboo Application (NMBA) for the necessary assistance for the development of technologies and linkages with industries. Rio further said that our dreams to turn bamboo into ‘green gold’ for the rural community of the region can be achieved only when people committed to this vision work together, and through the global sharing of knowledge, and simplifying the transfer of bamboo related technologies down to the grassroots.
Member, NEC, P.P. Shrivastava, who was the Guest of Honour, said that the North East Region has two-thirds of the bamboo resource in the country. India has 136 species of bamboo; he said adding that we are in the best position to make the best use of bamboo for the people. He said that maximum advantage should be taken from the natural resources as the North East Region is familiar with bamboo and its exploitation would help in poverty eradication and protection of ecology.
Earlier, there was a presentation of the Bamboo Theme Song and the Chief Minister also released a book on the usage of bamboo by Alem Longkumer. He also unveiled the Heritage Bamboo Hall monolith. Vote of thanks was delivered by Mission Director, Nagaland Bamboo Mission, Alemtemshi Jamir, IAS.
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