Vice Chairman of the Telangana State Planning Board B. Vinod Kumar along with a team of State government officials and those having expertise on bamboo visited Kudal area in Sidhudurg district of Maharashtra for two days for studying bamboo cultivation and bamboo-based industries.
Mr. Vinod Kumar, accompanied by Horticulture Commissioner L. Venkatrami Reddy, Director of Centre for Innovations in Public Systems, an autonomous wing of the Administrative Staff College of India, C. Achalender Reddy, non-resident Indians having expertise in bamboo including Srinivas Gogineni, Shudhir Kodati, Krishna Komandla and others, interacted with the bamboo farmers there and enquired about the cultivation practices.
Noting that there were good opportunities for bamboo cultivation in Telangana since the plant has several uses, he said by encouraging farmers to go for bamboo farming in some areas their incomes could be improved. The delegation visited Konkan bamboo industries in the Kudal industrial estate, where they were told that the Centre had been giving incentives for bamboo cultivation after establishing National Bamboo Mission in 2004.
According to the officials of the visiting team, they were told that the mission was strengthened further in 2017 by issue new guidelines to encourage bamboo cultivation. Utilising the opportunity, several farmers in the Kudal area had taken to bamboo farming and were earning good income.
They were also explained by the farmers that bamboo could be cut for commercial purposes every year from the fourth years onwards from its planting and it would withstand adverse weather conditions too. It could be cultivated in the lands not useful for traditional cropping and the bamboo groves emit lot of oxygen by consuming carbon dioxide.
During the visit to the industrial area, they were told that that bamboo could be extensively used for making doors, windows, flooring and other needs in housing in the coming years as the availability of conventional timber varieties such as teak falls. They were explained that bamboo strips could be heat-pressed into strong door and window planks. Besides, various craft products could also be made with bamboo.
Mr. Vinod Kumar felt that bamboo cultivation could be useful in Singareni mining areas as it would also reduce pollution.
