POLICY INITIATIVE

NATIONAL MISSION ON BAMBOO TECHNOLOGY AND TRADE DEVELOPMENT

Bamboo is the fastest growing plant on this planet. Bamboos are characterized by woody, mostly hollow culms with internodes and branches at the culms nodes. India is the second richest country in terms of Bamboo genetic diversity with a total of 136 species under 75 genera.  It encompasses about 8.96 million hectares of forest area, which is equivalent to 12.8 per cent of the total forest cover of the country.In India, the present usage of bamboo is to the tune of Rs 2043 crore. There is scope to increase the size of the industry by at least 2.2 times (i.e. Rs. 4463 crore as of today) to begin with. Over the next two years the projected rate of growth could be as high as 20 per cent per year. The objective of the national Bamboo Mission are to use bamboo development as an instrument of poverty alleviation and employment generation , particularly in the rural sector.

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