Extensive plans to popularise bamboo plantation in district

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Publication: The Times Of India Pune;Date: Jul 9, 2010;Section: Times City;Page: 5

Extensive plans to popularise bamboo plantation in district

Laxmi Birajdar | TNN
Pune: After Rs 4.43 crore was granted to the National Bamboo Mission in Maharashtra (NBM), Pune district will see
plans like a retail outlet of bamboo handicrafts and products, a special bamboo bazaar for better business opportunities
to farmers and special trainings on bamboo cultivation for farmers, government officials, field functionaries and NGOs. All
these plans will be executed in the coming months by the Directorate of Social Forestry.
Several hectares of forest and non-forest land have been earmarked for plantation of bamboo saplings for
2010-2011. Our plans are meant to take bamboo beyond its current functionality, as it has tremendous potential from the
artistic and economy perspectives, said Prakash Thosre, director of Social Forestry, Maharashtra.
The NBM has been implemented in Maharashtra from 2007.For the year 2010-11,bamboo plantation will be done on
600 hectares of forest land, 2,000 hectares of non-forest land, and improvement of bamboos already growing on 1,000
hectares of land.
Capacity building has been planned for 600 farmers within and outside Maharashtra, special training on
bamboo-based handicrafts and furniture to be held in Kudal, Sindhudurg. Post-Diwali, Pune will also witness a state-level
workshop, for the first time, for farmers, NGOs and government officials.
Eighty per cent of the bamboo is used in paper manufacturing, and the rest is used for scaffolding and for weaving
baskets. These special training programmes is a new feature and is meant for farmers, field functionaries, NGOs and
government officials to gain know-how on bamboo cultivation and using the grass for making innovative products beyond
its conventional functionality, said Thosre.
A special retail outlet called Bamboo Bazaar, that is being planned either in Pune or Satara, will house such items.
Bamboo poly-houses are also expected to come in Pune that will provide business opportunities to farmers. All the
programmes will kickstart by the year-end.
So far, under the National Bamboo Mission in Maharashtra, eco-houses or low-cost housing from bamboo have
emerged in Jalgaon and Sindhudurg, demonstrating its utility housing sector and infrastructural facilities, thereby helping
create a market for bamboo growers and processors.
A centralised nursery located in Pune has cultivated 50,000 bamboo saplings of different species. These saplings will
be used for planting an area of 50 hectares of non-forest land in Pune district, said VV Bapat, assistant director,Social
Forestry.
There are about 10,000 farmers in Maharashtra who are cultivating bamboo, along with conventional crops, on their
lands, with the help of Social Forestry.
The focus here is bamboo cultivation on private land at government cost.The cost per hectare is roughly Rs 27,000,
which is going to the farmers via the Employment Guarantee Scheme as well as from the funds given to Social Forestry,
said Thosre.
The bamboo sector can progress further if transit rules are relaxed, he added.
TALL PLANS
t The NBM has been implemented in Maharashtra from 2007
t For the year 2010-11, bamboo plantation will be done on 600 hectares of forest land, 2,000 hectares of non-forest

12/18/2016 2:03 AM

Extensive plans to popularise bamboo plantation in district

2 of 2

http://epaper.timesofindia.com/Repository/getFiles.asp?Style=OliveXLib...

land, and improvement of bamboos already growing on 1,000 hectares of land

t Capacity building has been planned for 600 farmers within and outside the state
t There are about 10,000 farmers in state who cultivate bamboo

12/18/2016 2:03 AM