Programs |
CIBART
has set up several lines of programs that would help realize its goals.
These programs are regularly monitored and reviewed to ensure timely course
correction and fine-tuning in response to the dynamics of the bamboo and
rattan sectors. |
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Bamboo
resource generation to ensure sufficient quantities of specific bamboo
species |
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Current estimates
put the volume of bamboo harvested in the country at about 14 million
tons per year. Most of this gets used in the traditional sectors with
low value addition. The current thrust on bamboo, with focus on higher
value addition, targets new uses in traditional and new sectors. |
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A study conducted
by the International Network for Bamboo and Rattan (INBAR) for the Indian
bamboo sector estimated that the annual harvesting needs to go up to 20
million to address these new value-added uses. The National Mission on
Bamboo Applications (NMBA) foresees new planting on 2 million hectares
to address this need. This, besides the numerous private plantation ventures,
has put on the table the acute short supply of quality planting material.
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Establishing large-scale
plantations require a massive supply of planting material. CIBART’s
projects in the Northeast are addressing this issue on a limited scale,
more for self-sufficiency of project-based activities. As this does not
tackle the massive need for quality propagules, CIBART is planning to
set up a network of micro-scale tissue culture production centres throughout
the country. CIBART will explore the possibility of tie-ups with commercial
tissue culture companies for this. This network will link to another network
of micro-nurseries, which will field-harden tissue-cultured plants and
market the plants to plantations. |
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Resource
inventory, management and monitoring |
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Bamboo, like any
other natural resource, needs accurate assessment and spatial demarcation
before any planning can be made for its optimum development and utilization.
Inventory of the bamboo resource to quantify it is, therefore, a critical
component in resource-based development planning. Inventorying is traditionally
done using ground-based surveys. Such surveys, however, are time consuming,
costly and not very accurate (owing to remoteness of locations, human
error, etc.). |
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Satellite remote
sensing has made the task of mapping a resource much simpler, less costly
and more accurate. Together with remote sensing, a Geographical Information
System (GIS) provides a more scientific platform for planners to chart
resource-based development plans. A multi-layer GIS could provide a mapping
of the resources (bamboo, water, land), infrastructure (road network,
drainage network), habitation, etc. In addition, offers the opportunity
to continuously monitor progress of the plans’ implementation. |
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CIBART is committed
to leveraging modern technologies to facilitate implementation of its
programs and realize its goals. Before it started the INBAR livelihood
development program in Manipur (Tamenglong) and Tripura, resource mapping
(using remote sensing) and GIS surveys were carried out for baseline monitoring.
The activity was funded by INBAR and carried out by RMSI, Delhi. This
GIS platform has helped planning project activities, setting up community-based
units and monitoring the progress of programs, particularly on resource
and livelihood development. |
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Documentation
and Information Management |
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Although India
has a rich and ancient tradition in the use of bamboo, information resources
on the status and use of bamboo and rattan in the country are very limited.
Under an INBAR project funded by the International Fund for Agricultural
Development (IFAD), CIBART is documenting the current technologies—both
traditional and new—that help livelihoods of the millions in the
country. This documentation, when completed, would provide all details
required to, besides create awareness about the economic potential of
bamboo and rattan, make an investment decision in any of the documented
areas of bamboo and rattan utilization. |
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CIBART will eventually
set up a network of learning centres to serve the knowledge needs of the
bamboo and rattan sectors in the country. An information and documentation
unit is already in the pipeline. This centre will: identify information
gaps that exist on different aspects of bamboo and related fields; collect
and document information that would bridge these gaps; generate and disseminate
information as a strategic support tool for bamboo and rattan-based development
initiatives; and backstop information and documentation requirements of
both INBAR and CIBART projects and programs. |
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Policy analysis and intervention |
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CIBART periodically
conducts experts-led policy workshops for the development of the bamboo
sector in different states. For instance, it organized a state-level policy
workshop and a ‘Bamboo sector development in Orissa’ in Bhuvaneswar
(Orissa) in January 2004 to kick-start policy measures that would lead
to sustainable livelihoods for the poverty-stricken tribal people in the
state. The workshop was the result of a report prepared by INBAR and CIBART
in December 2003, which looked at policy implications for promoting successful
bamboo-based livelihoods for the poor. |
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The purpose of
the workshop was to formulate an action plan to find technological, economic,
institutional and employment opportunities using bamboo. Organized by
CIBART, INBAR, the Indian Plywood Industries Research and Training Institute,
Bangalore, and the Forest Department of Orissa, the workshop was attended
by some 70 participants that included government officials, industries,
nongovernmental organizations, donors, scientists and artisans. The recommendations
of the two-day workshop recognized the role of bamboo in poverty alleviation
in the state and identified the bamboo-related policies that would need
revamping before bamboo could be used as a tool for social and economical
development. |
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Bamboo finds extensive
though rarely documented use in the fisheries sector. A roundtable national
policy workshop on ‘The role and opportunities of bamboo in the
fisheries sector’ was organized in Goa to address policy issues
in the fisheries sector, plan appropriate bamboo-based interventions and
fine-tune value-addition methodology. The workshop was a logical follow-up
to an earlier INBAR study, which showed that there are more than 150 uses
of bamboo in fisheries sector and over 100 bamboo products are commonly
used. The workshop brought together several experts involved in different
programmes and projects in the sector, besides representatives of agencies
working in this field and the stakeholders. |
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Setting up and support of self-sustaining majority community-owned organizations |
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CIBART has set
up and supports a network of self-sustaining majority community-owned
organizations in association with key stakeholders working primarily in
an action research mode to leverage bamboo resources and technologies
for the betterment of the communities. Three of the constituents of this
network—TAMBAC in Tamenglong, TRIBAC in Agartala and KONBAC in Kudal—have
become full-fledged community-based organizations that have taken up a
number of livelihood development and capacity building initiatives for
the community. TAMBAC and TRIBAC are now majority community-owned, with
more than 51% of stockholding vested with the community. KONBAC will soon
join these two. Another seven organizations are in various stages of development. |
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Product design and development |
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A Bamboo Product
Design and Development Centre has been set up, with the Uttaranchal government’s
support, in Dehradun and a training workshop for artisans conducted at
the Forest Training Academy, Haldwani. A Common Facility Centre (CFC)
has been set up in Kudal, Maharashtra, to provide under one roof training
and production facilities for bamboo-based products. Another CFC is scheduled
to come up shortly in Himachal Pradesh. These CFCs are equipped with all
essential machinery required for bamboo processing. |
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A full-fledged
design centre is proposed to be established in New Delhi. The centre will
………………………. |
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Training programs for capacity building and skill upgrading |
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Awareness raising
and training programs—another ongoing feature of CIBART’s
activities—have been conducted in Manipur, Tripura, Orissa, Uttaranchal
and Himachal Pradesh. In Tamenglong, environmental protection activities
have been initiated and an interface between designers, buyers and the
rural communities created. Charcoal and briquetting enterprises have already
taken shape and the ground laid for infrastructural development like setting
up gasifiers to produce electricity, bamboo housing and community facilities,
bridges and so on. An agarbatti (joss sticks) training program in Agartala
(Tripura) has spurred the creation of a community-based agarbatti enterprise—run
predominantly by women—that successfully launched a branded agarbatti.
Efforts are currently on to widen this base with the involvement of more
clusters. |
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INBAR and CIBART
jointly hold international and national workshops in India on various
aspects of bamboo, rattan and related sectors. These events
provide training to participants with the aim of building capacity to
plan, initiate and execute projects in these sectors. |
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Market
intelligence |
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In IFAD’s
rural poverty report, considerable attention is given to markets, because
the rural poor must have access to markets to sell their goods and also
to access inputs, assets and technologies, consumer goods, credit and
labour. As marketing—creating an image, defining the target group
and showing how the products fit—is also vital, CIBART has joined
hands with INBAR, IFAD and the Italian government saw to launch of a project
on marketing of community bamboo products in Europe. The joint project
aims to market products made by rural communities, to start with, from
India, Ecuador and Tanzania in Italy and subsequently all of Europe. |
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South-based communities
and designers will work with European designers for cross learning. Market
niches suitable for South-produced bamboo products will be identified
and South-North production-marketing linkages that benefit the rural smallholder
will be formed. A bamboo exhibition will be held in Europe. |
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INBAR has been
running bamboo-based development projects for almost five years. Finding
affluent overseas markets for the products produced by rural communities
could give these projects a big impetus. Already, in CIBART’s project
in Tamenglong, Manipur, some communities have established links to European
markets via a trade fair. |
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R&D
for machinery and tools development |
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For the Indian
bamboo sector to be a global supplier, it should be able to supply quality
products in volume. Currently the sector predominantly depends on manual
processing, which cannot meet these two criteria. CIBART views semi-mechanization
of processing activities, without disregarding the socio-economic character
of the bamboo sector, an imperative for the upgrading of the sector. It
is therefore working with machinery manufacturers to design and fabricate
bamboo processing machinery, which would help standardize processing steps,
increase productivity and keep wastage to a minimum. |
