Bamboo plantation in NE must be remunerative: Mukul

FROM OUR CORRESPONDENT

Shillong, April 10: Chief Minister Dr Mukul Sangma on Saturday attended the Global Bamboo Summit at Indore which is being held from April 8 to 10.  The event was jointly organized by Indian Federation of Green Energy (IFGE), New Delhi and tiol Agro Forestry and Bamboo Mission (BM), New Delhi.

Addressing the Summit on the second day as the chief guest during the session “Bamboo in North East Region”, Dr Sangma said that Northeast accounts for nearly 66 per cent of the total bamboo growing stock and 28 per cent of the bamboo bearing areas of the country.

The Chief Minister said bamboo plantation must be remunerative that will ensure its sustaibility.

Dr Sangma also said that there is need think to overcome the issues related to bamboo growing.

The Chief Minister also recommended the need of a joint meeting of the government and the North Eastern States in this regard to be facilitated by DoNER and to have a separate summit for bamboo growers of the region as North East is the largest bamboo growing region in the country.

He also added that government must give incentives to the micro entrepreneurs engaged in bamboo sector and hoped that through continuous efforts the full potential of bamboo sector will be tapped thus making it the driving force to the economy, paving the way for a bamboo based, eco-friendly and green economy.

The focal theme of the summit is “Bamboo for Sustaible Development” with the primary objective of soliciting global cooperation in bamboo sector for making bamboo as an agent for poverty alleviation and climate change. Issues of appropriate variety of bamboo, availability, up gradation of skills in manufacturing niche products, marketing and harnessing its business potential were discussed during the three days’ summit from participants across the globe. The summit also provided an excellent opportunity to learn from Global practices and help in business development by way of networking.