Policy to up ‘green gold’ cultivation expected by year-end 

A comprehensive policy is being finalized by NITI Aayog to derive numerous benefits from Bamboo, often known as “green gold”. The policy on bamboo (green gold) aims to mitigate the country’s reliance on imported fossil fuels.

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NITI Aayog is currently finalizing a comprehensive policy to derive multiple benefits from Bamboo, also known as “green gold.” The primary goal is to incentivize the entire bamboo value chain, including cultivation, production, and development. The strategy will involve plantation, production, processing, standardization, and utilization to develop a circular economy in this sector.

The government is considering to use of bamboo extensively for producing bio-ethanol, with an aim to mitigate the country’s reliance on imported fossil fuel. The hardness of the grass and its usefulness are also being explored for the infrastructure and construction industries.

The policy is expected to establish BIS standards for bamboo, food and safety standards certification for bamboo products and geographical indications (GI) tagging to expand bamboo export opportunities. The policy is expected to be implemented by the end of this year.

About 80% of the world’s total bamboo acreage is spread across China, India, and Myanmar. However, China is the main supplier of bamboo in the world market.

India is the second-largest country in the world after China, having about 40% (13.96 million hectares) of the total bamboo forest area. However, the industrialization of bamboo in the country is still in its early phases, resulting in supply-side constraints and sluggish bamboo exports.

The global bamboo market estimated at US$68.8 billion in 2019, is expected to be worth US$98.3 billion by 2025. 

A restructured National Bamboo Mission was launched by the government in 2018-19. The Mission envisages promoting holistic growth of the bamboo sector by adopting an area-based regionally differentiated strategy and increasing the area under bamboo cultivation and marketing. However, in the absence of incentives to producers and other stakeholders in the value chain, not much progress has been registered in bamboo production.

Bamboo, an ancient grass has many uses like- in construction (flooring, roofing designing, and scaffolding), furniture, food, biofuel, fabrics, cloth, paper, pulp, charcoal, and ornamental garden planting.