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India to exploit money-spinning potential of bamboo
Thursday, 05 February 2004, 20:30 IST
NEW DELHI: India has the second largest resource of bamboo in the world next to China, but has tapped a mere one-tenth of the potential income from this common plant.
Value addition by selling products rather than raw bamboo can double the current income from 
20 billion to 45 billion and touch 260 billion by 2015, according to the department of science and technology (DST).
These and other issues, including decimation of bamboo caused by its flowering, will be discussed at the seventh World Bamboo Congress that India hosts here this month, according to Vivek Oberoi, advisor of DST's Technology, Information, Forecasting and Assessment Council (TIFAC).
The six-day meet from Feb 27 will bring together businessmen, artisans, scientists, architects and government officials from 36 countries to provide a technology platform to showcase the $10 billion potential that bamboo holds worldwide.
"The world has rediscovered bamboo," Oberoi said, pointing to the interest that has been generated in several countries for its products.
So far, Western countries did not associate bamboo with India but with China, he said.
But the scene is now changing with India promoting bamboo products in the world market and several countries, including in Europe and South America, are keen to buy them.
Though traditionally used as food, for constructing houses and fuel, bamboo can be processed to serve a wide variety of functions. It is a good timber substitute and furniture, wood panelling, floorboards and plyboards can be made readily from bamboo.
Besides, it can earn substantial revenue from handicrafts as well as construction and road building work.
Bamboo products also offer an export potential of 1 billion.
To combat the flowering, which results in the entire grove drying up, India's northeastern states plan to harvest as much of the 126 million tonnes of the commercial bamboo species as possible.
This, Oberoi said, offered a chance to process this resource and earn revenue.
Said to be stronger than steel, the versatile and fast growing plant that belongs to the grass family can, through technology inputs, be put to a wide range of applications.
For instance, traditional houses made of bamboo in India's northeast are being replaced by steel and concrete, which is unsuitable for the terrain. This can be corrected by using pre-fabricated fibreglass and bamboo construction material, according to TIFAC.
Mechanisation of bamboo processing would improve productivity and reduce drudgery, Oberoi said.
Since the machines imported so far from Taiwan and China to make bamboo strips and slivers were not suited for Indian bamboo species, indigenous processing machinery had been built, he said.
Bamboo shoot is a delicacy, which is fast gaining ground in western nations. Food processing units have been set up to tap this huge export market.
Apart from these, bamboo is seen as environment friendly as it has great capacity to generate the life-giving oxygen.
With its deep and wide spreading root and rhizome structures, it also fixes the soil and can be used to control erosion, particularly along riverbanks.
Source: IANS
20 billion to 45 billion and touch 260 billion by 2015, according to the department of science and technology (DST).
These and other issues, including decimation of bamboo caused by its flowering, will be discussed at the seventh World Bamboo Congress that India hosts here this month, according to Vivek Oberoi, advisor of DST's Technology, Information, Forecasting and Assessment Council (TIFAC).
The six-day meet from Feb 27 will bring together businessmen, artisans, scientists, architects and government officials from 36 countries to provide a technology platform to showcase the $10 billion potential that bamboo holds worldwide.
"The world has rediscovered bamboo," Oberoi said, pointing to the interest that has been generated in several countries for its products.
So far, Western countries did not associate bamboo with India but with China, he said.
But the scene is now changing with India promoting bamboo products in the world market and several countries, including in Europe and South America, are keen to buy them.
Though traditionally used as food, for constructing houses and fuel, bamboo can be processed to serve a wide variety of functions. It is a good timber substitute and furniture, wood panelling, floorboards and plyboards can be made readily from bamboo.
Besides, it can earn substantial revenue from handicrafts as well as construction and road building work.
Bamboo products also offer an export potential of 1 billion.
To combat the flowering, which results in the entire grove drying up, India's northeastern states plan to harvest as much of the 126 million tonnes of the commercial bamboo species as possible.
This, Oberoi said, offered a chance to process this resource and earn revenue.
Said to be stronger than steel, the versatile and fast growing plant that belongs to the grass family can, through technology inputs, be put to a wide range of applications.
For instance, traditional houses made of bamboo in India's northeast are being replaced by steel and concrete, which is unsuitable for the terrain. This can be corrected by using pre-fabricated fibreglass and bamboo construction material, according to TIFAC.
Mechanisation of bamboo processing would improve productivity and reduce drudgery, Oberoi said.
Since the machines imported so far from Taiwan and China to make bamboo strips and slivers were not suited for Indian bamboo species, indigenous processing machinery had been built, he said.
Bamboo shoot is a delicacy, which is fast gaining ground in western nations. Food processing units have been set up to tap this huge export market.
Apart from these, bamboo is seen as environment friendly as it has great capacity to generate the life-giving oxygen.
With its deep and wide spreading root and rhizome structures, it also fixes the soil and can be used to control erosion, particularly along riverbanks.
Source: IANS