Bamboo to provide employment to 5 lakh villagers

Bhopal: The bamboo-based industries will provide employment to 5 lakh villagers during next 5 years. For this, Madhya Pradesh State Bamboo Mission is chalking out “Kisan Baans Yojana”. Launch of the scheme will not only increase bamboo production, but will also develop bamboo-based industries. At present, there is a big gap between production and demand of bamboo.

Bamboo is a multi-purpose and fast-growing vegetative species. Bamboo areas are under immense pressure due to bamboo being multi-purpose. Due to ignorance, local people are causing heavy damage to bamboo production by cutting bamboo clusters unscientifically. Under the scheme, scientific production of bamboo will stop damage to production and farmers will also get good income. Under the scheme, bamboo will be used in traditional bamboo industry like furniture, bridges, fencing, paper industry and use as food product as well as non-traditional uses like making of tiles, floors, ceilings, shedboard and panels in modern and costly cars, fibre industry, energy production etc.

Bamboo has a wide market in the country and world. But Madhya Pradesh’s bamboo-based industry’s contribution is still very less. For increasing this contribution, Kisan Baans Yojana has been drafted. Bamboo can provide large-scale employment opportunities in plantation, maintenance, cutting, protection, transport and making goods. One hectare of bamboo forest is more carbon plus than one acre of other forests. Therefore, it would be more beneficial to farmers to get credit on bamboo than carbon credit on trees.