Bamboo for the 21st century

There is immense potential to increase the productivity of bamboo resources, enhance the quality of extracted bamboo and increase value addition through new and emerging technologies. The Planning Commission of India (2003) estimates that the potential exists for economic activities worth INR 26 000 crore¹ (US$ 6 billion), based on value-added products and applications in manufacturing, building, utility and craft products, the food industry, energy needs and charcoal and activated carbon production. To utilise the full potential of the bamboo sector and ensure its vibrant growth, structural changes need to be brought into the sector in terms of appropriate land uses, relaxing the bamboo transit and access regime, technology development, adaptation and dissemination of products, promotion of managed plantations in government forests and on private land, establishing productmarket linkages, and ensuring intensive support to the bamboo sector.