National Bamboo Mission

Topic- Government Schemes and Beneficiaries [GS Paper-2]

Context- Recently, the Ministry of Agriculture formed an Advisory Group for streamlining the development of the Bamboo sector under the restructured National Bamboo Mission (NBM).

Key Highlights 

• With the aim to streamline the developments in the Bamboo sector, the Union Agriculture Minister has recently approved the format.
• As per the official statement, the Advisory group will encompass the representation of various stakeholders’ such as academicians, researchers, innovators, progressive entrepreneurs, designers, farmer leaders, marketing specialists and policy makers.
• The Union Agriculture Secretary will be the Chairperson and Mission Director of National Bamboo Mission will be accorded as the Convener of the Committee. 
• The members of the committee shall advise the Ministry of Agriculture & Farmers Welfare particularly on issues and technologies in propagation, plantation of bamboo & intercropping, primary processing, product development, value addition, market infrastructure and linkages, processing machineries, skill development etc.

National Bamboo Mission

• The restructured National Bamboo Mission (NBM) was launched during 2018-19 and it is a Centrally Sponsored Scheme (CSS).
• NBM mainly focuses on the development of the complete value chain of Bamboo sector in order to link growers with consumers starting from planting material, plantation, creation of facilities for collection, aggregation, processing, marketing, micro, small & medium enterprises, skilled manpower and brand building initiative in a cluster approach mode.

Objective

• The main objective of the mission is to increase the area under bamboo plantation in non-forest Government and private lands to supplement farm income and contribute towards resilience to climate change.
• Also to connect farmers to markets so as to enable farmer producers to get a ready market for the bamboo grown and to increase the supply of appropriate raw material to the domestic industry.
• It endeavours to upgrade skills of traditional bamboo craftsmen as per the requirement of contemporary markets with a tie-up with enterprises and premier institutes.
• The Ministry of Agriculture & Farmers Welfare serves as the nodal ministry of the mission 

 Significance of Bamboo

• The bamboo industry is witnessing a phase change by the opening of various avenues of resource utilization.
• Bamboo is a versatile group of plants that is capable of providing ecological, economic and livelihood security to the people
• Recently, the Prime Minister has inaugurated the new terminal of the Bengaluru (Kempagowda) Airport in which the versatility of bamboo as an architectural and structural material has been proved and the destiny of this green resource defined as the ‘green steel’.
• Apart from using in the construction sector as design and structural element, the potential of bamboo is intricate.
• Eco Friendly mouldable granules from bamboo can replace the vast use of plastic.
• Bamboo is a reliable source for the ethanol and bio-energy production due to its growing rate of growth and abundance.
• The market of Bamboo based lifestyle products, cutleries, home decors, handicrafts and cosmetics is in a growth path.

Bamboo Production in India

• India has the highest area (13.96 million ha) under bamboo and it is the second richest country, after China, in terms of bamboo diversity with 136 species (125 indigenous and 11 exotic).

Initiatives to Promote Bamboo

• Bamboo Clusters: The Union Minister for Agriculture and Farmers’ Welfare has inaugurated 22 bamboo clusters in 9 states viz. Gujarat, Madhya Pradesh, Maharashtra, Odisha, Assam, Nagaland, Tripura, Uttarakhand and Karnataka.
• MSP Rise: The Central government has revised the Minimum Support Price (MSP) for Minor Forest Produce (MFP).
• MFP counts all non-timber forest produce of plant origin and includes bamboo, canes, fodder, leaves, waxes, resins and many forms of food including nuts, wild fruits, lac, tusser etc.
• Removal of Bamboo from ‘Tree’ Category: The Indian Forest Act 1927 was amended in 2017 in order to remove bamboo for the category of trees.
• Therefore anyone can undertake cultivation and business in bamboo and its products without the need of a felling and transit permission.
• Farmer Producer Organisations (FPOs): 10,000 new FPOs are to be formed in 5 years.
• FPOs engage in providing a range of assistance to farmers such as imparting better farm practices, collectivisation of input purchases, transportation, linkage with markets, and better price realisation as they do away with the intermediaries.

Way Ahead

• States need to take forward the objectives of the National Bamboo Mission which would further contribute to the Aatmanirbhar Bharat Abhiyan through an “Aatmanirbhar Krishi (self-reliant farming).
• With the abundance of bamboo and its rapidly growing industry, India needs to aim to establish herself in global markets for both engineered and handcrafted products by increasing the exports even further.

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