This proposal was mooted at the recent national seminar on bamboo development in Capital organised jointly by the environment ministry and the United Nations Industrial Development Organisation (UNIDO) and sonspored by UNDP, FAO and Beijing based International Network for Bamboo and Rattan (INBAR).

It was suggested that the government should announce every year minimimum support price (MSP) for bamboo as it does for foodgrain crops and render fiscal incentives and technological support to bamboo based industries. The proposed board will have representatives from the paper and pulp industry, timber industry, growers, representatives from concerned states, research organisations and also representatives from concerned ministries like, agricultureand rural development apart from the environment ministry.

As setting up of a Bamboo Board may involve an elaborate process, the environment ministry is also thinking in terms of setting up a Bamboo Development Council which will be an easier process. The success of the operation of the council will pave the way for effective setting up of a Bamboo Board. The ministry presently has a Bamboo Cell.

Bamboo apart from being used as a timber in various capacities, it is used in handicrafts, furnitures, construction works, cattle feed, paper and pulp industry and as fuel wood and for energy generation. In the northeastern states young bamboo shoots are used as food by the people. Pickles are also produced from young bamboo shoots. Bamboo resources is replenishable over a short period of time of three years and is an eco-friendly product.

The cross calorific value of bamboo is comparable to that of wood and fuels and is within the range of values for wood ie 15,000 to 25,000 KJ/kg. The BTU range falls in therange of values for wood ie 8200 to 8700 BTU/lb. Once planted, it is a regular perennial source of biomass, unlike tree crops which are `slaughter felled'. It replaces 30 per cent of the biomass harvested in each year as compared to tree crops which replaces only 3 to 5 per cent.

Experts, PM Ganapathy and K Shyamsundar suggested that problems in raising plantations via seed route should be identified and the hurdles should be overcome by transferring techonologies of macroproliferation and micro propogation developed by ICFRE and rooting of stem cutting developed by KFRI. Plantations should be planned from divergent planting stocks to overcome the problem of gregarious flowering. Protection to plantations from wild animals like herbivorous elephants in forest areas and cattle in farm areas should be given. There should be a harmonising attitudinal reservations about using bamboo fuel.