Potential of bamboo in NE industrial development bright

GUWAHATI, March 16: "It was the master craftmen of the Northeastern region who taught us what bamboo is all about and its enormous potential as a material for future industrialisation," said MP Ranjan of National Institute of Design, Ahmedabad. Ranjan who has been associated with research on bamboo for the last 20 years or so, was speaking at the inauguration of "Bamboo Boards and Beyond", an exhibition being organised at Cane and Bamboo Technology Centre here. He said bamboo had enormous potential as an industrial material in the Northeast region and called for a change in the mindest to realise the utility of bamboo. He pointed out that design held the key for industrialisation of bamboo with the aid of modern technology. "Design will give us the direction and orientation on which the suitable technology can be developed," Ranjan said advocating that design should be included in curriculum at the school level to create more awareness. He informed that there were 127 species of bamboo available in the country out of which 61 had been recorded as indigenous to the Northeast region. All of them are useful indifferent ways. "The world has identified bamboo as the material for the future. Germany is doing research to find ways to extract fuel from bamboo while China and Japan are trying to utilise bamboo as a source of charcoal," Ranjan said. Talking about the availability of bamboo in the NE as the raw material for industrial use, Ranjan said the need of the hour was to go for planned plantation of bamboo in the region. He said India produced average 2.5 tonnes of bamboo per hectare of land in comparison 35 tonnes per hectare produced in China. Binoy Oberoi of the UNDP which supports the Cane and Bamboo Technology Centre here along with the NEDFi, said "future of bamboo is not with Forest Departments of the region but with Agriculture sector. "He said the Northeastern region is rich in bamboo resources and also in skills in bamboo. With right design, technology and co-operation from the state governments of the region, bamboo products from the region could be made much sought after items in the global market. The Chairman of the Northeastern Development Finance Corporation Limited (NEDFi), Jayanta Madhab said the exhibition of superlative bamboo products was aimed at creating awareness among the entrepreneurs about potential of bamboo which is part of life in the region. It was a step towards NEDFi's bid to industrialise bamboo, he said adding that the Cane and Bamboo Technology Centre (CBTC) was keen to disseminate information on its utility. The State Industries and Commerce Minister, Gunin Hazarika while inaugurating the exhibition, called upon the scientists and technologist to find out ways for rapid industrialisation with bamboo as the raw material. Talking about the potential of bamboo, the Minister hoped that industrialisation of bamboo was bound to revolutionise the economy in the region which is known to have abundant bamboo resources. Students of Design for IIT Guwahati took initiative in organising the exhibition which has to be seen to believe what can be done with bamboo. A large number of students from the IIT, Guwahati, entrepreneurs from outside the State also came to visit the exhibition today. Later talking to the media, Ranjan of the NID, Ahmedabad said frontline institutes of science and technologies like the IITs had a major role to play in enhancing the utility of bamboo products. He informed that by virtue of the dimension of fibre bamboo is stronger than even steel. However, it could be used as building materials if technologies made available for making it fire proof, and weather proof. Bamboo Boards and Beyond is a collaborative effort of the NID team of designers with project consultants from Finland, Hong Kong and Japan and is aimed at exploring new strategies to spread the use of bamboo boards. The NID initiative is endorsed by the International Network of Bamboo and Rattan (INBAR), Beijing and the International Council of Societies of Industrial Design (ICSID), Helsinki.