Union Farm Minister Narendra Singh Tomar today inaugurated 22 bamboo clusters in Madhya Pradesh, Assam, Karnataka, Nagaland, Tripura, Odisha, Gujarat, Uttarakhand, and Maharashtra, the government said in a release.
During the virtual launch programme, Tomar said India would now work towards exporting domestically-produced bamboo. India is the world's second largest producer of bamboo after China and is also one of the major importers of bamboo and its derivatives.
Tomar also said the Centre's 2017 amendment to the Forest Act, 1927, that treats bamboo grown in non-forest areas as non-tree could help the industry. This takes away requirements such as mandatory permit for felling or transporting bamboo for economic use.
On Jul 23, Prime Minister Narendra Modi urged the northeast states, which produce almost half of India's annual output, to further increase bamboo production in a bid to reduce import dependence. Modi also said the commodity guaranteed producers an assured domestic market.
