National Bamboo Mission Approved by CCEA

The Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs (CCEA) has approved restructured National Bamboo Mission (NBM) with an outlay of Rs. 1290 crore.

The scheme will be implemented during the remaining period of 14th Finance Commission (2018-20).
The National Bamboo Mission (NBM) is a Centrally Sponsored Scheme under National Mission for Sustainable Agriculture (NMSA).
The restructured mission will address complete value chain and establish effective linkage of producers (farmers) with industry thus ensuring ensure a holistic development of the bamboo sector.

Objectives of restructured National Bamboo Mission

The Mission would aim to bring one lakh farmers under its ambit.
The scheme would work on plans to ensure bamboo plantation on one lakh hectare of land across the country.
The Mission will focus on the development of bamboo in limited states where it has social, commercial and economic advantage.
The Mission strives to increase the area under bamboo plantation in non-forest government and private lands to supplement farm income and contribute towards resilience to climate change.
It aims to further promote product development at micro, small and medium levels, rejuvenate the under the developed bamboo industry.
Promote skill development along with capacity building and creating awareness for the development of the bamboo sector.
Improve post-harvest management through establishment of innovative primary processing units, treatment and seasoning plants, primary treatment and seasoning plants, preservation technologies and market infrastructure.

The scheme would target select states, including North-east, Madhya Pradesh, Maharashtra, Karnataka, Odisha, Jharkhand, Chhattisgarh, Andhra Pradesh, Tamil Nadu, Kerala and Gujarat for plantation of bamboo.
The Mission is expected to establish about 4000 treatment/ product development units and bring more than 100000 ha area under plantation.
The restructured mission will benefit directly and indirectly farmers as well as local artisans and associated personnel engaged in the bamboo sector.
It will directly benefit about one lakh farmers as it has proposed to bring about one lakh ha area under plantation.
The bamboo plantation will contribute in optimizing farm productivity and income.
It would thereby enhance livelihood opportunities of small and marginal farmers including landless and women as well as provide quality material to industry.
It will serve as potential instrument for enhancing income of farmers and also contribute towards climate resilience and environmental benefits.
It will also help in creating employment generation directly or indirectly in both skilled and unskilled segments.

NBM is a centrally sponsored scheme started in 2006-07.
It was subsumed under Mission for Integrated Development of Horticulture (MIDH) during 2014-15 and continued till 2015-16.
It aims to promote growth of bamboo sector through area based regionally differentiated strategy.
Since 2006-07, an area of 3.62 lakh hectares has been covered under bamboo plantations.
However, there were limited efforts on processing, product development and value addition. Additionally, there was a weak linkage between the farmers and the industry.
Considering this, the mission was restructured to give emphasis to address the complete value chain for growth of the bamboo sector and to establish a pleasant relation between farmers and industry.