The Union government is taking necessary actions to fill up the gap between supply and demand for bamboo in view of “tremendous demand” for it in the national and international markets, said Union Agriculture and Farmers Welfare Minister Radha Singh at the World Bamboo Conference in Indore, Madhya Pradesh. The Government has planned to encourage bamboo cultivation in the country through various measures, including plantation of its saplings along the national highways and using it in the construction of toilets.

• In India, bamboo is being cultivated in 130 lakh hectares area, while in China it is three times less, which is 42 lakh hectares. Despite that, bamboo production in China is 45 tonnes per hectare, while in India it is just two-three tonnes.
• The Centre is running Bamboo Mission in 28 states of the country under which saplings were planted in 3,50,000 hectares land.

Did You Know?

Considering the possibility of economic utilization of bamboo and for overall development of the sector, the National Bamboo Mission (NBM) was initiated under the Agriculture and Farmers Welfare Ministry in 2006. Since the initiation of the mission, bamboo has been planted on 349864 hectare land, the ministry stated. The NBM today has been renamed as the National Agriculture Forest and Bamboo Mission (NABM).