This will help in increasing farmers’ income and also reduce dependency on imports of some raw material.

Union Minister for Agriculture & Farmers’ Welfare, Rural Development and Panchayati Raj Narendra Singh Tomar has recently inaugurated 22 bamboo clusters in nine States – Madhya Pradesh, Gujarat, Maharashtra, Assam, Odisha, Nagaland, Tripura, Uttarakhand & Karnataka through virtual mode. He also released a logo for the National Bamboo Mission. Acclaiming the success of the National Bamboo Mission, the minister said that India is now gearing up to increase the export of bamboo products.

Keeping in mind the importance of bamboo, the Indian Forest Act 1927 was modified in the year 2017 to remove bamboo for the category of trees, therefore now anyone can start cultivation and business in bamboo & its products.

Tomar called upon the States to take forward the objectives of the mission that would contribute to PM Modi’s vision of an AatmaNirbhar Bharat via an AatmaNirbharKrishi. The support being given by the Mission to local artisans through locally grown bamboo species would also actualize the objective of Vocal for Local. This will help in increasing farmers’ income and also reduce dependency on imports of some raw material.

The amended National Bamboo Mission was launched in the year 2018-19 for the development of the complete value chain of the sector. The Mission is being executed in a hub and spoke model, with the main objective of connecting farmers to markets so as to enable farmer producers to get a ready market for the bamboo grown & to increase the supply of right raw material to the domestic industry.

In addition, the bamboo ecosystem has been energized with 23 States being supported, including all the eight states of North East.