Food, fuel, and timber: How bamboo is becoming 'green gold' for farmers

Bamboo cultivation with modern agronomic practices is proving more rewarding than many other crops, including the highly lucrative ones like sugarcane and cotton

Bamboo, hailed commonly as the “poor man’s timber”, has emerged as a money-spinner for farmers to get a rather fancy epithet “green gold”. Its cultivation with modern agronomic practices is proving more rewarding than many other crops, including the highly lucrative ones like sugarcane and cotton. Recognising its potential to increase farmers’ income, the revamped National Bamboo Mission and the Mission for Integrated Development of Horticulture are implementing schemes to promote bamboo farming in different parts of the country. Their programmes include measures to encourage the use of bamboo as an alternative to wood in various sectors,