Tapping commercial bamboo markets in the Northeast

Northeastern states have abundant bamboo plantations-in the forest, in the backyard homestead gardens, or as part of agroforestry. Indigenous communities of the region developed vast knowledge on bamboo use in day-to-day life, which is also passed on to the next generation. Application of this traditional knowledge for manufacturing bamboo products on a commercial scale for augmenting household income is gaining ground, but market share is still much less than the potential. India’s market demand for bamboo is estimated at 27 million metric tonnes, but the current bamboo production can meet only half of it, and imports from China meet the shortfall of nearly 50%. The abundance of bamboo in the region not being converted to tap this huge demand in the domestic market is reflective of the gaps in policy planning and execution. Bamboo is the fastest-growing plant, due to which it is the most sustainable, eco-friendly alternative to timber extracted from felled trees. The use of bamboo scaffolding is popular in the construction industry because of its low cost and easy adaptability. Scaffolding tops the chart in consumption of bamboo in India, followed by handicrafts. It involves bamboo extraction, aggregation, storage, and transportation. Village youths can be groomed as bamboo aggregators and large volume suppliers to the construction industry. The current practice is to aggregate bamboo from individual bamboo growers and supply it to the bamboo trader in city or town markets. The small bamboo traders store the aggregated bamboo in depots and supply it to the large volume bamboo supplier. The large-volume trade is mostly controlled by traders who came from other states and settled in the region. As road and rail connectivity in the region has significantly improved, a large volume supply of bamboo directly to the industries can be possible if aggregation is done in bamboo-growing clusters. Banks and other financial institutions providing easy credits to village entrepreneurs in bamboo-growing areas can ensure bamboo growers get a remunerative price, which will be an incentive to grow more bamboo. Higher market share from the construction industry directly flowing into villages will significantly improve the local economy and generate more livelihoods. Growth in the real estate sector has fuelled demand for bamboo not only for scaffolding but also for bamboo furniture in multi-story apartments. Bamboo sofa sets have become popular with modern design adaptation and customising with customers’s preferences. Growing popularity of e-commerce has unlocked huge marketing opportunities for modern bamboo furniture makers. Traditional bamboo artisans in the region getting training in modern furniture designing skills can enable them to tap this market and augment income. Availability and affordability of tools required to manufacture bamboo furniture and other products on a commercial scale are crucial for their transition from traditional handicraft product making to industrial scale manufacturing. When it is not possible for individual artisans to purchase such tools, the establishment of Common Facility Centres (CFC) equipped with all essential tools and equipment can motivate them to engage in commercial-scale production of bamboo products with modern, innovative designs and applications. Such CFCs being located at convenient distances is essential to make bamboo product making remunerative for artisans to keep transportation costs at the minimum. The majority of bamboo product manufacturing in the region is unorganised, due to which industrial-level data is not available. This comes in the way of policy formulation and drawing up a pragmatic roadmap. A comprehensive baseline survey in each state of the region covering all aspects of bamboo growing, use and product making, marketing, transportation, e-commerce linkage, socio-economic status of traditional bamboo growers and artisans, large volume bamboo trade, etc. will generate quality data for government policy planners, industry stakeholders, and entrepreneurs. The imagination of bamboo growers and artisans in the region has remained limited, and the majority of them, with the exception of a few, are clueless about the benefits of commercial-scale production or skill development for catering to the customised demand of individual buyers or industrial buyers. Expansion of food markets and ban on single-used plastic cutlery have given rise to new markets for bamboo products in the food industry. For a traditional bamboo artisan in the region, acquiring the skill of bamboo cutlery making is quite easy, but they need modern machines, tools, and equipment to manufacture those on a commercial scale. If bamboo grown in the region is not used to make these new products with high market demands, supplies of such products will continue from outside the region. It is high time the region starts focussing on the fast-growing market of new bamboo products and not limiting initiatives under various central government and state government schemes and programs to only expanding bamboo plantations in the region. A comprehensive review of current policies and initiatives in the region by experts is critical to identify the gaps and explain the paradox of local artisans not being able to maximise benefits from growing markets despite the abundance of bamboo.