Plan body for a Bamboo Directorate

The Planning Commission has thrown up an idea to form a National Bamboo Development Board and expand the present Rs. 2,600 crore Bamboo Mission into a full-fledged directorate.

The pre-feasibility report has already been scrutinised by the Agriculture Ministry, and the final report is expected to be placed before the Cabinet by February next year.

The scheme, which includes an addition of two million hectares of land for bamboo plantation, may generate 8.6 million jobs. It is believed that the U PA government, which has been looking for creating job avenues to fulfil its promises in the CM P, is likely to accept the proposal. "With an addition to two million hectares of land, the total land under bamboo plantation will increase to 8.9 million hectares. People will be needed not only at the stage of cultivation, but lakhs of jobs will be created at the primary processing centres, which we are planning in our new scheme," said a Planning Commission official.

Also, an expansion of bamboo plantation is a key to meet the Plan target of covering 33 per cent of areas under forests. Next only to China, India has the richest bamboo genetic resources with 136 species. But with a market of Rs. 2,000 crore, it falls nowhere in the $10 billion global bamboo bazaar.

"If we wish to exploit the bamboo market totally, the entire mission is to be handled by a proper directorate. We must have a proper structure and separate administration to look into areas like finance, administration, marketing etc. We can't forget that our domestic market itself is huge and there's no problem of investment. In fact, the Government may not pump in all the expenditure. The idea is to make the business of bamboo a profitable venture," the official added.