RAJSHAHI, May 6 (BSS): Special initiatives have become indispensable to protect and flourish the bamboo craft, which remains in the doldrums in northwestern region of the country for a long time because of the declining demand for the products.
Environmentalists and researchers told the news agency that need- oriented steps should be taken to create demand for the bamboo products in local and regional markets and remove the obstacles that arises in producing the goods.
Dr Redwanur Rahman, Associate Professor of Institute of Environmental Sciences of Rajshahi University, said more than 50,000 people are involved in the production of bamboo crafts in over 1,000 villages of the region.
Most of them are women and aborigines and bamboo products are their main source of income. Apart from this, around 30,000 people are completely dependent on bamboo craft trading for their livelihood.
The manufacturers collect bamboo from local markets and sell the processed items locally while small traders purchase the items from different villages and sell those to various regional markets.
However, manufacturers frequently deprive them from gaining minimum profit due to multifarious reasons particularly the higher price of bamboo, irregular supply of raw materials and lack of communication between different markets.
On the other hand, the bamboo products are gradually losing demand due to rapid expansion of plastic industry, Dr Rahman said.
He, however, said the bamboo baskets are widely used for carrying betel leaf and other seasonal fruits especially mango, tomato, papaya, guava and jujube and demand of the bamboo handicrafts increases during harvesting and marketing of the fruits.
He recommended initiating urgent steps to promote the sector by identifying its existing problems and finding out possible solutions which may play a positive role in poverty alleviation of the disadvantaged group of people.
Market expansion of environment-friendly bamboo products and successful manufacturing of those can eradicate their poverty.
Interested nursery owners should be given necessary training on bamboo sapling production and branch cutting method, in collaboration with the Bangladesh Forest Research Institute and the Social Forestry Department, to enhance bamboo production.
Besides, importance should be given on conducting survey in different high price markets including Dhaka and other commercial hubs to build linkage between the wholesalers and producers.
Apart from this, necessary efforts are needed to make the local bamboo products familiar to exporters for exporting those in the global market.
