Assam youth goes ‘local’ with bamboo, earns over Rs 30,000 per month

For 40-year-old Shyamanta Borah of Jorhat, Assam, it is easy to be self-reliant being at home by utilising state's tropical abundance. As such, Borah has been engaged in the production of various bamboo products including water bottles and sofa sets since 2018. His initiative has come to light amid the nationwide lockdown, which has slowed the economy of the country never seen lows.

Talking about his initiative, Borah said, “I have been producing bamboo products since 2018. I am overwhelmed at the response of the people for the local products at the time when the market is flooded with dazzling imported products. We get orders for water bottles, sofa sets, and other products.”

The entrepreneur earns around Rs 30,000 to Rs 40,000 per month by investing just Rs 500 on a bamboo. “I invest around Rs 4000 to make products from a single bamboo and earn Rs 30,000 to Rs 40,000 every month. I am quite happy with this income,” Borah said while adding that he will extend the business once the situation becomes normal.

Also read: Assam: HSLC Result To Be Declared On June 6

Bamboos in Assam

Assam produces 51 different species of bamboo and the whole Northeast India produces 50 percent of the bamboo species found in the country. There are 125 indigenous as well as exotic species of bamboos belonging to 23 genera in India. Bamboo forests occupy an area of 10.03 million ha, roughly 12.8 percent of the total forest area in the country.

The geographical distribution of bamboos is governed largely by the conditions of rainfall, temperature, altitude, and soil. Most of the bamboos require a temperature from 8 degrees Celcius to 36 degree Celcius, a minimum annual rainfall of 1000 mm, and high atmospheric humidity for good growth. This makes it suitable for the climatic conditions found in the Northeast region.

Bamboo technology park

With an aim to provide infrastructure facilities to bamboo entrepreneurs against payment of user charge, the Assam government had sent up a Bamboo Technology Park at the cost of Rs. 62.28 crore in 2017, at Chaygaon in Kamrup district. This was funded by the Government of India, Department of Industrial Policy & Promotion (DIPP) under the Infrastructure Upgradation Scheme (IIUS). On utilising the services offered by the bamboo park, Shyamanta Borah replied, “I have heard of it. But, I haven’t gone for any such help yet. Actually, I haven’t registered as an industry or company yet. But, I am thinking to register it once the situation gets normal”.

Also read: Assam Detects 23 More COVID-19 Cases, Count Reaches 1384

National Bamboo mission

In 2018, the Central government had approved restructured National Bamboo Mission to envisage promoting holistic growth of the bamboo sector by adopting the area-based, regionally differentiated strategy and to increase the area under bamboo cultivation and marketing.

The mission was launched to promote skill development, capacity building, awareness generation for the development of the bamboo sector from production to market demand.

Through this mission, the youths can explore the possibility of bamboo in the region as well.

Local to vocal

At a time when the economy has fallen down at an unprecedented level due to the outbreak of the COVID-19. It is pertinent to mention that the unemployment rate in May has gone up to 23.48 percent in India, but is marginally lower from 23.52 per cent in April, according to data released by the Centre for Monitoring Indian Economy (CMIE). According to the report, around 12.2 crore Indians were rendered jobless due to the coronavirus-induced lockdown last month.

Thus, initiatives like that of Borah will give a fillip to the domestic economy as well as it will open up a global market for indigenous products. “His initiative has set an example for many to be self-reliant using indigenous products at a time when the market is flooded with Chinese products,” a local said.

The local further forwarded about the benefits of using bamboo products, “see, people are aware of the environmental issues. They know what kind of impact the plastic products have on nature. The products like he is producing will definitely occupy the market. And it is the golden opportunity given by the coronavirus for the Assamese youths to occupy the market locally to globally.”

Also read: Assam Reduces Quarantine Period To 4 Days, Recovery Rate Slow

Looking forward

Borah is one of the success stories of the region, however, there are lakhs of youths who are struggling to find jobs in the recent crisis. This comes at a time when PM Modi has himself been vocal about going 'local'. Consequently, it becomes extremely important for all the stakeholders of the industry to work in tandem to make better indigenous products, create more jobs at the startup level. For that necessary support will be required from the govt level along with monetary measures, which have been provided to some extent. How that will shape up the domestic economy of the region, will only be understood in the coming months?