Dimapur, September 16 (MExN): Chief Minister of Nagaland Neiphiu Rio today told an international platform that there is an “enormous amount of wealth” in bamboo, which if harnessed in collaborative efforts, can benefit and develop the people and region of India’s north east. He made underhanded but regular references to ‘investors’ “entrepreneurs from around the world,” who, according to his speech, can take “advantage” of the capital in bamboo.
Neiphiu Rio addressed the 8th World Bamboo Congress held in Bangkok on September 16. In his speech, Neiphiu Rio said the raw stock of bamboo in the region is conservatively valued at Rs. 5,000 crore or about 1 (one) billion US dollars. Even with a modest target of two-fold value addition to the stock through suitable methodologies, an annual turnover of approximately Rs. 10,000 crore or about two billion US dollars can easily be generated in the region, he said. In the context of India’s economy the market size of bamboo is expected to touch a figure of Rs. 42,000 crore of about 8.4 billion USD in the next fifteen to twenty years.
“This is an enormous amount of wealth that can benefit not only the people of the region but also the business partners who can come and invest in its development and exploitation,” he said. “I can assure you that there is enough scope for benefit and gain in our romantic adventure with ‘the wonder plant of the 21st Century’,” he explained.
“Being interwoven with the daily life of ethnic groups, it (bamboo) has been incorporated in their cultural and social occasions also. With such a God-given resource we have a dream and a vision that bamboo will be an important ingredient for our development and economic growth,” Rio said. Calling out to investors he added, “It also however means that there are enormous potentials in bridging the gaps which can be taken advantage of by entrepreneurs from around the world.”
India’s NE region, with about 8% of the geographical area of India, accounts for approximately 66% of the bamboo resources of the country spreading over an area of about 3.10 million hectares and housing over 89 species of bamboos.
The chief minister also complained that one of the problems “we are grappling with in India” is the “regulatory issue stemming out of our definition or conception of bamboo.” In India as in many other countries, he explained, bamboo is defined as a tree and so treated at par with timber and other forest produces. This restricts not only its transit and harvest but affects the entire process of the development of bamboo as an economy, he said. He said bamboo should be legally recognized for what it is – a ‘grass’. This will facilitate its cultivation and its economic use at a much faster pace than what is taking place today, he said.
Access to and transfer of technology is another major problem being faced he said. “The basic issue is that unless there is a combined global effort to promote bamboo as an alternative to wood all our deliberations would be in vain. As it is, the production of bamboo composite products to substitute wood is a costly affair. The marketing and pricing it competitively with wood is another matter,” Rio asserted.
“Let us also reaffirm our belief in the enormous environmental and socio-economic implications and benefits for mankind through bamboo as we deliberate on such issues…since we have embarked on an agenda for the development of bamboo on an economic scale, that would benefit not only the economy of the people but also help in the mitigation of the global environment problems,” Chief Minister Neiphiu Rio told the Congress.
“I am confident that all the participants of this 8th World Bamboo Congress will go away as wiser people and in the spirit of global co-operation and collaboration to create a world that is woven together by the magic of bamboo,” he said.
