Changing poor man’s timber into ‘green gold’

Employees of the NBDA working on bamboo charcoal at the NDBA centre. (RIGHT) Fermented bamboo shoot readied for the market at the fermenting unit. (Morung Photos)
 

Bamboo a vital source of income for Nagas

Dimapur | December 6: ‘The grass of hope’, some people have named the bamboo. With people beginning to see bamboo in a different perspective, it is proving to be a vital resource in terms of its contribution to the national economy and ecological stability. In Nagaland, bamboo has been an intricate part of Naga culture and art. But it is only recently that people have begun to realise the value of the wonder grass, and bamboo development in the state is growing by leaps and bounds.
The nodal agency for bamboo development, Nagaland Bamboo Development Agency (NBDA) has explored and developed bamboo in a wider perspective, and has assimilated potentials and values of bamboo to the people. Spread over several acres of land, the Nagaland Bamboo Resource Centre in Dimapur is known to be one of the best in the country. Various bamboo products manufactured in the centre is a sign of a treasure-house, where a natural element is sustained in a manner to produce excellent resources to generate income for people of the state. Several units producing different bamboo products in small and moderate quantities have been set up.
One of the finest bamboo products of the state is handicraft. NBDA, with a view to revitalise handicraft and its development, has conducted various trainings focused on design, quality and productivity turned for market requirement. The agency has identified eleven SHG clusters and a consignment sales depot has been set up at the resource centre to facilitate marketing of the handicraft products.
The centre currently has a bamboo stick and splints production unit. The centre for incense sticks and Venetian blinds produces at a capacity of 40 square metres per day and toothpick production lies at 300 kilograms per shift.
Another bamboo product which is picking up market is the charcoal. Bamboo charcoal, with its wide ranging domestic and industrial demand, is gradually becoming the preferred charcoal. The NDBA with support from National Bamboo Mission on Bamboo Application has set up 45 bamboo charcoal production kilns across the state, producing about 11.25 tons of charcoal per day with special focus in the bamboo flowering regions of the state. The NBRC complex in Dimapur alone accounts for 400 kilograms of bamboo charcoal per hour.
Bamboo mat making has also been taken up as a community enterprise by the Anaki cluster in Mokokchung district and it is reportedly generating 36 lakhs per annum. The state also has one bamboo canning unit and a fermented bamboo shoot packaging unit. A bamboo pulp sanitary napkin unit has also been set up though the product is yet to be marketed. A bamboo treatment plant has also been set up for the production of quality bamboo products.
With 46 species of bamboo known to grow in Nagaland and about 5% of the total bamboo growing stock of the country available in the state, bamboo is set to change the fortunes of thousands of bamboo growers in the state. About 6472 hectares scientifically managed plantation was taken up during 2006-07, 7500 hectares for 2008 and 50000 is set for the next five years. NDBA is also moving enterprise based and building up infrastructure, thus drawing more entrepreneurs.
Also, with the involvement of the village bamboo development community in each cluster level and the involvement of rural people in the process of bamboo development activities, it may be apt to say that the government is changing the poor man’s timber into ‘green gold’.