Cane and Bamboo Technology Center

From time immemorial to the present day, cane and bamboo have formed an integral part of the lives of the people in the North Eastern Region. Bamboo is used in myriad ways to make several articles. implements etc. Generally people make those things which are required in their day to day lives.

 Bamboo handicrafts and furniture is produced throughout the North East. Productivity is low because of the limited knowledge, lack of skills and basic tools. Quality is generally poor due to several reasons: bamboo used for handicrafts and furniture is not mature enough, bamboo is not treated, improper handling, lack of knowledge about jigs, poor jointing and lack of finishing materials and skills. It is in this context that the concept of a specialised institution dealing solely with cane and bamboo was conceptualised.

 Thus, a Cane and Bamboo Technology Centre (CBTC) came to be set up at Guwahati with the aim of identifying and disseminating technologies for economic enhancement of craftspeople and small and medium-scale entrepreneurs and also to enhance the skills and quality of goods produced in the Cane and Bamboo sector of North East India. Another important aim of the CBTC is to strengthen the capacity of existing institutions through networking and by linking them with specialised institutions in India and abroad.

 The United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) has committed approximately $ 1.4 million Technological upgradation and Networking for the Cane and Bamboo Project. The Department of Science and Technology (DST), Government of India is the Executing Agency for the project and has therefore overall responsibility for the Programme to the Government of India and the UNDR The United Nations Industrial Development Organisation (UNIDO) is the assigned Implementation Agency, while the North Eastern Development Finance Corporation Ltd. (NEDFi) is the Field Implementation Agency, responsible for project activities through the Cane and Bamboo Technology Centre.

 The CBTC intends to promote employment and income generation through making relevant industrial and craft technologies and business opportunities more accessible. The core of the project strategy is the strengthening of the institutional structure of resource centres in the region and upgrading the skills of entrepreneurs, trainers and leading craftspeople to achieve the widest possible dissemination of the technologies and skills needed for managing, marketing and adding value to these hitherto under-utilized resources. In order to achieve this objective, the identified centres will be equipped with appropriate resources (information technology and electronic communication facilities, tools and equipments for demonstration purposes, training facilities, etc.) under the overall co-ordination of the DST.

 It is also anticipated that a long-term association will be established with the International network of Bamboo and Rattan (INBAR), based in Beijing, to provide strategic and specific technical inputs.

 The CBTC has now embarked upon hosting a training workshop on Affordable Bamboo Housing in Earthquake Prone Areas in collaboration with the International Network for Bamboo and Rattan (INBAR) and the Government of Mizoram at Aizawl from 29th October. 2001 to 11th November, 2001

Cane & Bamboo Technology Centre

UNDP-UNIDO-NEDFi Cane & Bamboo Technological Upgradation and Networking Programme

Executing Agency: DST

The Department of Science and Technology will execute the programme, facilitating the establishment of linkages with scientific, technological and research establishments. The sub-programme will be executed and implemented as part of the Technology Management Programme (TMP) of the CCF, and will be managed and coordinated by the programme management structures established under the TMP.

Implementation Agency: UNIDO

The sub-programme will be implemented by the United Nations Industrial Development Organisation (UNIDO), which will be responsible for its management and operation. UNIDO, with its experience of sectoral development, small industry and cluster promotion, and its familiarity with technology transfer, will bring expertise as well as an international dimension. The latter is of great consequence in a sector in which the need is to technologically upgrade to at least the levels now prevalent in East and South East Asia. There is a strong UNIDO commitment to the sub programme, and to the follow up of the recommendations of the UNIDO supported national workshop on bamboo development held in August 1999.

Cooperating agency at field level: NEDFi

The North Eastern Development Finance Corporation (NEDFi) will carry out the field level implementation. Land, infrastructure and buildings have been identified and acquired at Dispur, Guwahati and are in the possession of NEDFi. The site is conveniently and centrally located and the buildings require no major repair or modifications.

Given this requirement, the North East Development and Finance Corporation (NEDFi) has been identified as the key partner in the region for implementation of the sub-programme.

NEDFi represents one of the most significant developmental initiatives in the North East of the Ministry of Finance of the Government of India, established through a commitment in the Finance Minister’s Budget Speech of 1995, and incorporated shortly after, in August 1995, with an authorised capital of Rs. 500 crores.

NEDFi is promoted by the GOI, with an equity holding of 55% vested in public financial institutions, including IDBI, IFCI, ICICI, SIDBI, UTI, LIC, GIC & SBI. It is the developmental bank of the North East, and functions as a promotional institution to facilitate and catalyse economic activity. As a representative of the Government of India it discharges responsibilities relating to the Central Investment Subsidy and provides refinance to State Financial Institutions in the region. NEDFi also operates the North East Equity Fund (NEEF) to assist first generation entrepreneurs, and provides short term working capital loans to meet critical shortages. It has created fund corpuses a) to develop entrepreneurs and markets for products from the North East, b) for resource mapping, feasibility, and market studies, c) to establish design and technological resource centres for craft and handloom sectors, and d) to support village, tiny and micro-enterprise, through micro-credit.

In the context of the cane and bamboo sector, NEDFi has financed a large number of bamboo entrepreneurs and craftsmen, and will take up more support activities. To the sub-programme, NEDFi will contribute land, infrastructure and buildings for the CBTC and will establish an autonomous society with widespread stakeholder participation, and support, nurture, monitor and coordinate the CBTC. NEDFi is also best placed to provide linkages with the financial sector, with its own credit and micro-credit programmes, and those of other financial institutions operating in the region.

Fund flow arrangements

Requests for release of funds will be made as per the UNDP Financial Report format. The Financial Report will contain, in addition to the information on funds required, information on annual budgets, year-to-date expenditures and consequently available budgets. Funds will be released for sub-programme activities, normally on the basis of quarterly advances on the basis of annual work plans. UNIDO will send combined annual revisions to the work-plan and budget as annexed to this document, to the DST and to UNDP. Release of funds, requests for direct payments, and the arrangements for audit of UNDP funds will be governed by the National Execution (NEX) Guidelines dated 01 July 1998.

Work plans

Work plans will be developed in a participatory manner for each year of the sub-programme. Their preparation will be coordinated by NEDFi, and finalised through the sub-programme management structures, involving DST and UNIDO.

Monitoring and Evaluation

One of the first tasks of the sub-programme, and the shared responsibility of the executing and implementing agencies, and NEDFi will be to develop monitoring, evaluation and review systems. Such systems are intended not only to facilitate the formal review of sub-programme activities, but function as a resource in the planning and development of further sub-programme interventions, and provide an objective foundation for mid course correction. Evaluation is of paramount importance for learning lessons from this sub-programme, which intends to act as a pioneer for cane and bamboo sector development at a larger, national scale.

Bamboos are giant, woody grasses, representing the most diverse group of plants in the grass family. They put out each year several full length, naturally pre-finished, ready-to-use culms ("stems"). Complex branching, a robust rhizome system and infrequent flowering distinguish them, as does the their incredible diversity of type and usage. Over 1200 species of bamboo are known to exist throughout the world, with sizes ranging from miniatures to giant culms of over 60 metres.

Bamboos are among the fastest growing plants on the planet. Some species grow at the rate of one metre per day. They are a critical element in the balance of oxygen and carbon dioxide in the atmosphere, an enduring and versatile natural resource.

Found on every continent except Europe, bamboo has been an integral part of the cultural, social and economic traditions of many societies, in East and South East Asia, and in India’s North East region. Millions of people continue to depend on it for their livelihood, and for innumerable and varied household and functional uses.

In the North East the use of cane and bamboo is ubiquitous. Every tribe and community puts these materials to aesthetic yet functional use, their skills evolved over centuries of usage. There is therefore a great deal of dependence on cane and bamboo. The people of the region are important stakeholders, and repositories of knowledge, which can be extremely useful for the development of the sector. For many people the sector provides a commercial, often primary vocation as well – these are growers, people who produce for the market, or are employed by people who produce for the market. Some of these groups are indicated below.

Entrepreneurs

Several clusters of artisans/ micro-entrepreneurs have developed. The most important are in the Lower Brahmaputra valley (Nalbari, Barpeta and Nagaon), in Upper Assam (Lakhimpur), in the Barak valley (Silchar, Karimganj), in Tripura (Agartala), Arunachal (Pasighat) and in Meghalaya (Shillong). They cater to urban markets within the region, and to the extent that they can, outside the region as well. Some have benefited from support from the KVIC, and from the DC (H). This has been in the form of loans and grants from the KVIC/ KVIBs, and assistance for marketing from the DC (H). In the larger towns, notably Guwahati, Silchar and Agartala, some units have graduated in scale and complexity to micro-enterprise. They produce furniture, household and decorative items which are marketed through exhibition sales and direct contact with retailers. Interestingly, many of these units, particularly in the Brahmaputra valley, are owned and operated by women entrepreneurs.

The organised sector

There are three pulp and paper mills in the region, all in the public sector, operated by the Hindustan Paper Corporation, and exclusively dependent on bamboo. These are at Jagiroad and Badarpur in Assam, and at Tuli in Nagaland. The Tuli unit has been non-functional for some time, and the one at Badarpur operates sporadically. Although long term arrangements are in place for supplies from leased forest areas, the diminishing availability of bamboo in their vicinity has forced the mills to also secure supplies from homestead and farm bamboo.

Cosmicraft Industries in Meghalaya is so far the only other industrial user of bamboo. Originally confined to timber based plywood, recent restrictions on felling have provided both a challenge and an opportunity. Cosmicraft has diversified, and now manufactures particle boards from jute sticks, and bamboo plywood and mat board, the last a substitute for thin plywood. All of these products are the result of innovative but not complex adjustments to existing plant and machinery. This example is capable of replication by other plywood units, most of which currently face closure in the face of lack of raw material supplies.

The production of bamboo mat board is an interesting mix of household and industrial activity. The first step in the process is the weaving of traditional bamboo mats, largely by women, in the household sector. Mats are procured by Cosmicraft, and laminated at their factory near Byrnihat. Bamboo mat boards are used for paneling, ceilings, partitions, walls and floors. Cosmicraft has a daily production capacity of 90 cu.m and absorbs 9 million bamboo mats annually. The constraints to expansion are consumer resistance and insufficient availability of mats. It would be interesting to see however, the benefits of value addition which accrue respectively to the household and industrial sectors.

NGOs

Many NGOs work in the cane and bamboo sector, the majority in the crafts segment, in the production of traditional articles, as well as newer or adapted products for the market. It is difficult to distinguish between civil society and private sector organisations, because many of the NGOs are commercially oriented. While some of these NGOs have become quite large in scale in terms of workforce, production volumes and commercial activities, there are small-scale and grass roots societies as well.

The Crafts Society of Manipur (CSM), one of the most active in the region, was established in 1992. It seeks to promote Manipuri handicrafts and improve the position of the artisans. It provides raw materials at affordable prices, brings artisans in contact with the market, and conducts training programmes. CSM also works on preserving traditional crafts and has a special focus on unemployed youth and women.

In the Dhemaji district of Assam, the Social Work and Research Centre, Akajan has succeeded in organising artisans engaged in the production of japis, wide brimmed conical hats of bamboo, for which there is a strong rural market. Support has taken the form of collective procurement of bamboo, small loans, the formation of a ‘japi bank’, and collective marketing. This has led to increased income and employment amongst the artisans, particularly in the lean season for agriculture, and the establishment of direct linkages, eliminating middlemen, between the artisans through their cooperative and neighbouring rural markets.

There are several other instances of successful NGO led operations in the sector, which should be documented for possible replication.