Shillong, June 25: Economic potential of bamboo in Meghalaya will be explored on a large scale with the Asian Development Bank (ADB) giving its nod to a $42.2 million package to develop bamboo industry in six northeastern states.
Besides Meghalaya, the project will support Assam, Manipur, Mizoram, Nagaland and Tripura through community-based initiatives aimed at improving bamboo cultivation, processing and marketing, while creating jobs and boosting rural incomes.
Focus on women-led enterprises is a significant feature of the project. At least one women-led bamboo manufacturing facility will be established in each participating state, the ADB said.
This will create new opportunities for women entrepreneurs and workers in the bamboo value chain.
“By harnessing the country’s abundant bamboo resources and building private sector-led industrial value chains, ADB’s financing will stimulate trade, investment and infrastructure,” ADB Country Director for India Mio Oka said.
The multilateral lender said the project seeks to reduce dependence on imports and diversify income sources for rural households that remain vulnerable to climate shocks and crop failures.
Despite India possessing nearly 39 per cent of the world’s forest bamboo resources, the country’s bamboo sector remains largely underdeveloped and continues to rely heavily on imports.
The project, aligned with the National Bamboo Mission, will support bamboo resource mapping, research and training, digital value-chain solutions and capacity building of state bamboo missions and technical institutions.
For Meghalaya, where bamboo plays an important role in rural livelihoods, handicrafts and traditional architecture, the ADB-backed initiative could open up new avenues for value addition, entrepreneurship and employment while positioning the state as a key player in the Northeast’s emerging bamboo economy.
