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Bamboo in Vidarbha: Missed Opportunities and Growing Potential

Bamboo in Vidarbha: Missed Opportunities and Growing Potential
Bamboo in Vidarbha: Missed Opportunities and Growing Potential

A hardy plant in Vidarbha to grow across scattered farmlands and forest clearings, deeply tied to the habits of the people living around it.


Known for its strength and flexibility, bamboo is not new to the region.


Yet its presence in the economy remains far less than its presence on the land.



From Daily Utility to Industrial Interest


Bamboo has long held a place in the daily routines of rural communities in Vidarbha. It has served as material for homes, tools, fences, baskets, and furniture. Villages have treated it as a natural ally, growing freely in the region’s forests and assisting in construction and craft.


The association between bamboo and rural life in Vidarbha is longstanding and practical. A shift began in the late 1980s, largely due to the work of Sunil Joshi, an architect based in Bhandara.

After completing his education at Visvesvaraya Regional College of Engineering in Nagpur and spending time in the building trade, Joshi’s encounter with a bamboo artisan in 1989 steered him in a different direction.


He established a bamboo furniture manufacturing unit in Bhandara, influenced in part by architect Charles Correa’s 1976 report on sustainable urbanisation. This unit was among the earliest efforts in India to position bamboo as a commercial resource rather than just a household material.



Government policy also responded to these shifts. In 2017, a change in the Indian Forest Act of 1927 led to bamboo being classified as grass instead of a tree.

This administrative move removed legal restrictions on cultivation, transport, and harvesting. With this reclassification, private farmers and entrepreneurs across India, including those in Vidarbha, gained legal freedom to treat bamboo as a crop.


Yet despite this change, Vidarbha has not matched the progress seen in the Konkan region, which has taken greater strides in bamboo cultivation and industrial use.


Trade, Applications, and Slow Growth

Trade, Applications, and Slow Growth of Bamboo in Vidarbha
Trade, Applications, and Slow Growth of Bamboo in Vidarbha

Vidarbha’s bamboo industry is valued at roughly ₹6,300 crore, but most of this potential remains unrealised. Even so, small but active efforts continue. Local organisations such as VEDHA and BHAWNA operate a trade worth over ₹2 crore.


These initiatives focus on bamboo-based products such as furniture, paper, and handicrafts. A formal agreement between farmers and Ballarpur Paper Mills sets the price of bamboo cultivated on private land at a minimum of ₹3,500 per tonne, providing a clear, though limited, route to market.


An important milestone was reached in 2023 when a 200-metre-long bamboo crash barrier was installed on the Vani-Warora Highway. Known as the “Bahu Balli,” the barrier was made from the Bambusa Balcoa species and underwent structural testing to validate its strength.

This project, developed within Vidarbha, marked an attempt to showcase bamboo as an alternative construction material. Its successful completion demonstrated bamboo’s ability to meet durability standards in road safety infrastructure.



The Maharashtra Bamboo Development Board (MBDB) has made efforts to build momentum around bamboo by supporting industries that can make use of it. These include segments such as construction, furniture-making, and handmade goods.


The Board has engaged in dialogue with banks like the State Bank of India to create loan schemes that support farmers and business owners who wish to enter the bamboo sector.


In 2021, a workshop hosted by the Vidarbha Industries Association emphasised the plant’s potential as a plastic alternative, particularly in the wake of rising import duties on bamboo from Vietnam and China.

Despite this, large-scale growth has been constrained by limited policy execution and gaps in industrial processing capacity.


Cultivation Realities and Technical Hurdles


Bamboo is naturally found in Vidarbha’s forests, where species such as Katang, Manga, Manvel, Thorny, and Chivari grow in different pockets. Even with this natural base, private cultivation has seen slow progress. By comparison, the Konkan region accounts for two-thirds of Maharashtra’s total bamboo production.


Between 2014 and 2020, the College of Agriculture in Nagpur, affiliated with Dr. Panjabrao Deshmukh Krishi Vidyapeeth (PDKV), conducted studies to determine which species would be most viable for farming in Vidarbha.


The research found three species, Balcoa, Katang, and Stocksii, to be the most commercially suitable based on their biomass yield.

Katang was found to yield 261 tonnes per hectare, with 42 tonnes marketable. Balcoa offered 224 tonnes per hectare with 41 tonnes usable, and Stocksii produced 171 tonnes per hectare with 35 tonnes marketable. Another species, Tulda, yielded 161 tonnes per hectare, with 28 tonnes considered marketable.


While the National Bamboo Mission, launched in 2002, aimed to accelerate bamboo farming, its execution has been uneven in Vidarbha. Coordination failures between agencies have slowed their effectiveness. Farmers report a shortage of technical guidance and poor market integration, which discourages them from treating bamboo as a primary crop.



However, the MBDB continues to promote bamboo as an option, supporting the selection of suitable species and connecting growers with financial assistance.


Bamboo is also promoted for its environmental contributions. A single bamboo clump can generate up to 360 kg of oxygen each year, exceeding human annual oxygen needs by about 40 kg.

The plant is also capable of treating water, including saline water, and is well suited to the region’s dry and hot conditions.


Although Vidarbha has not produced many standout stories of success in bamboo farming, cases from other parts of Maharashtra suggest possibilities.


One example is from Latur in Marathwada, where a farmer named Rajshekhar Patil planted 40,000 bamboo saplings on 54 acres of barren land. Over five years, he harvested 10 lakh bamboo poles, showcasing a commercial model for farmers working in difficult terrains.


Challenges continue to limit expansion. Farmers face logistical issues such as transit pass rules, which complicate the movement of bamboo despite the 2017 reclassification.

A promised bamboo technology institute has not been established, keeping advanced training and innovation out of reach. Moreover, the lack of processing units and limited value-addition infrastructure make it difficult for Vidarbha to match regions with a more developed bamboo ecosystem.


Bamboo in Vidarbha occupies a space between familiarity and commercial ambition. Its presence in homes and forests is longstanding, yet its future in the region’s economy is still developing.


Efforts by individual entrepreneurs, local organisations, and government bodies continue to push the conversation forward. Bamboo-based infrastructure projects and trade agreements signal its potential in both traditional and modern markets.


As interest grows and institutions adjust to support it, the groundwork is being laid for change.

The plant is no longer restricted to the margins of rural life. Its use in construction, its oxygen output, and its water-purifying properties position it well for broader integration. While Vidarbha continues to face challenges in expanding its bamboo economy, the foundations laid over the past decades offer direction for what may come next.



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