About Bamboo

• Bamboo is a versatile crop. It can be used in 1,500 different ways including as food, a substitute for wood, building and construction material, for handicrafts and paper. Around 80 per cent of bamboo forests lie in Asia.
• India is the world’s second largest cultivator of bamboo after China. However, despite all this, the country’s share in the global bamboo trade and commerce is only 4 per cent.

About National Bamboo Mission

• In 2006, the Government of India launched the National Bamboo Mission (NBM).
• The NBM’s key objective was to address issues relating to the development of the bamboo industry in the country, provide a new impetus and direction and enable the realisation of India’s considerable potential in bamboo production.

Main Objectives

• To increase the area under bamboo plantation in non forest Government and private lands to supplement farm income and contribute towards resilience to climate change as well as availability of quality raw material for industries. 
• To improve post-harvest management through establishment of innovative primary processing units near the source of production, primary treatment and seasoning plants, preservation technologies and market infrastructure.
• To promote product development keeping in view market demand, by assisting R&D, entrepreneurship & business models at micro, small and medium levels and feed bigger industries.
• To rejuvenate the underdeveloped bamboo industry in India.
• To promote skill development, capacity building, awareness generation for development of bamboo sector from production to market demand.
• To realign efforts so as to reduce dependency on import of bamboo and bamboo products by way of improved productivity and suitability of domestic raw material for industry, so as to enhance income of the primary producers.

Restructured National Bamboo Mission 

• In 2018, a restructured National Bamboo Mission was launched for holistic development of the bamboo sector through a cluster-based approach. 
• The restructured NBM aims to support the development of the entire value chain of the bamboo sector starting from planting material, plantation, creation of facilities for collection, aggregation, processing marketing, micro, small & medium enterprises, skill development and brand building initiative in a cluster approach mode. 

Potential of Bamboo Sector

• Land degradation is a major problem confronting India. According to the State of India’s Environment 2017 Report, nearly 30 per cent of India’s land is degraded. With its unique ability to stitch and repair damaged soils, bamboo is ideal for rehabilitating degraded soil. 
• To arrest the pace of land degradation in the country, a national programme of intensive bamboo plantation involving all stake-holders needs to be undertaken. The Pradhan Mantri Awas Yojana should utilise bamboo as construction material. 
• Though bamboo has been used in various pioneering structural applications in the past, it is still seen as a “poor man’s material”. Developing bamboo as a load-bearing structural element would pave the way for its high value application in construction, which can make bamboo cultivation an economically viable way of greening the vast wastelands. 
• Edible bamboo has a huge demand in East Asian cuisines and medicine. Bamboo grown in the Northeast (which is 66 per cent of the growing bamboo stock in India) can be exported to East Asian countries like Japan and Taiwan for competitive prices with the Government’s support.
• To facilitate the benefit flow to the farmers, bamboo outside forest areas has been excluded from the definition of tree by amending Section 2 (7) of the Indian Forest Act, 1927 by the Government of India in 2017. Prior to this, the Act defined bamboo as a “tree” and bamboo grown outside forests was subject to regulatory rules of felling and transportation. 

Why in News?

• The Ministry of Agriculture & Farmers Welfare is set to conduct the National Workshop on Bamboo Sector Development in New Delhi.
• The workshop aims to pave the way for the growth of India’s bamboo sector by identifying areas for improvement and exploring expert suggestions to transform the industry for sustainable development and economic growth.

https://pib.gov.in/PressReleasePage.aspx?PRID=1904901