Karnataka asked to promote use of bamboo

National Bank for Agriculture and Rural Development (Nabard) has asked the Karnataka government to take up comprehensive measures to step up both the demand and supply of bamboos as a way to create rural jobs.

B B Mohanty, chief general manager, Nabard-Karnataka, said there is need for a comprehensive strategy involving all the agencies concerned to exploit the potential of the bamboo sector. To bridge the demand and supply gap, Nabard has suggested that Karnataka involve self help groups (SHGs) and the village forest committees (VFCs).

Nabard has prepared policy guidelines for promoting bamboo cutlivation. It has asked the state to exempt bamboo from the purview of the restricted felling under the Karnataka Tree Preservation Act 1976, as also from the ambit of transit pass. The global market for bamboo is estimated at Rs 50,000 crore which is expected to go up to Rs 1 lakh crore by 2015. China has emerged as a major player, with half the global export market, while India's share is a meagre 4.5 per cent.

In India, the total area under bamboo is around 9 million hectares. Of this, the growing stock is 80.43 million tonnes and the collection stock is 13.5 million tonnes. Karnataka accounts for 5.5 per cent of the national bamboo cultivation and 3 per cent of the growing stock.

The 'National Mission on Bamboo Technology and Trade Development' was set in motion in 2003 to promote bamboo as a means to reclaim degraded land, conserve soil, improve the environment and attain ecological security. It is also seen as a means of employment generation and rural development, said Mohanty.

The mission has set a coverage target of about 1.5 lakh hectare under new bamboo plantations and establishment of nurseries. It proposes the setting up of bamboo markets for raw and finished products, promoting bamboo shoots and product development, and HRD in bamboo management, he added.

Nabard has asked the Karnataka government to take measures like rationalising double taxation of bamboo through forest department and APMC, relaxing the land ceiling act for bamboo farming in areas adjoining forest land and encouraging farm forestry on a large scale.