Nagaland will be hosting the first World Bamboo Day event on September 18 at Kisama Heritage village, some 13km from the Nagaland’s capital Kohima. While the coming world bamboo day and Nagaland’s part in it was already in the news the last 6 months or so, the official announcement was made by Chief Minister Neiphiu Rio and the Mission Director of Nagaland Bamboo Mission (NBM) Alemtemshi Jamir, who is also the Additional Chief Secretary. Both the Chief Minister and the Mission Director tried to affirm the point that the invitation to host the first World bamboo Day came after the World Bamboo Organization was impressed with a power-point presentation of the Nagaland Bamboo Mission at the 8th World Bamboo Congress held in Bangkok last year. However the Chief Minister was also honest enough to admit that Nagaland had many ‘shortcomings’, mainly the lack of infrastructure and technology. No doubt the comparative advantage of our State lies in the abundance and varieties of bamboos found and also the intrinsic role of bamboo in the daily lives and culture of the Naga people as rightly pointed out by the Chief Minister. But if at all this bamboo resource is to be harnessed to its fullest potential, we will need more than just power point presentation or the depiction of our bamboos and the rich culture associated with it.
Here we need to point out that the Nagaland Bamboo Mission (NBM) has done a good job ever since it was formed keeping in mind the need to develop this sector in a mission mode. Much has been achieved over the last seven to eight years and the fact that Nagaland is hosting this all important global meet on bamboo is testimony to the hard work put in by the NBM. However this is just the beginning and much hard work lies ahead especially in the area of technology, processing, production and marketing. Just having abundance of bamboo is not enough. We have to harness this into creative solutions that will find utility in every day life. For the last so many decades, we have found it convenient to conduct the so called ‘craft bazaar and display of our handicraft’. However the products being displayed have hardly improved. The same monotony of design, shapes and colour are showcased. At most these are museum pieces without having any real utility or purpose to serve.
On the other hand bamboo craftsmen in China have been getting the attention because of the growing demand in the European and American markets for their produce such as bamboo flooring, furniture and several other bamboo products. Here in Nagaland, a certain negative connotation is attached to bamboo. Many in Nagaland including top officials still perceive it to be a poor man’s timber. In the West it is seen not as a poor man’s timber but a world class raw material used for food, shelter and clothing. Maybe because it is found in abundance here we have tended to take the bamboo and the potential it holds for granted. This attitude has to change. The NBM has taken care to plant several lakh hectares of bamboo plant across the State. It is expected that in the next few years there will be abundance of raw bamboo materials. Both the government and private sector will have to give importance to create a viable bamboo industry in the State so that the full potential of the bamboo can be harnessed.
