DoNER Ministry teams up with Amazon to boost bamboo trade

Chennai, Feb. 10: According to senior government officials in the Ministry of Development of North East Region (DoNER Ministry), the Ministry is keen to explore the market opportunities for bamboo in domestic and overseas markets.

The DoNER Ministry is, further, working with Amazon and two other companies in this connection, as stated by an official in the Ministry.

Besides promoting bamboo locally, the ministry would also look for shipping them to neighbouring countries like Bangladesh and Myanmar, Ministry of Development of North Eastern Region (MDONER) Secretary Chanchal Kumar said.

At a recent roadshow in Chennai, Union Minister for Communications and Development of North Eastern Region Jyotiraditya M Scindia said nearly 38 per cent of the bamboo was produced in the north-eastern states. This provides a huge opportunity for Chennai, which has a huge furniture-making industry, he said.

"Today, we can grow that bamboo, process it to manufacture furniture and export it (to other parts of the country). Right now, my ministry is working with Amazon and two other companies to adopt self-help groups in the North-east. Starting with two states Tripura and Nagaland, where we plan to do end-to-end value processing of bam-boo. So, the possibilities are endless," Scindia said.

Chanchal Kumar said the government intends to promote bamboo products in both domestic and overseas markets.

"We are going to market it. Marketing can be domestic and export. You have to come with quality. These companies will be helping them (Self Help Groups in the Northeast) in designing world-class bamboo items like furniture, and boards. So it will help the farmers aggregate and take it to the end user. The entire value chain has to pick up," Kumar said.

Elaborating on the initiative, he said that after the companies entered into a tie-up with the ministry, it (the ministry) will help the companies to market the products easily.

"Once it captures the domestic market, then we will go international. The ultimate aim is to go to the markets of neighbouring countries including Bangladesh, Thailand, and Myanmar," he noted.

He underlined that the Northeast holds a majority of bamboo resources in the country and offers a great opportunity to the furniture industry in Chennai.

- With inputs from news agencies