Nagpur: In a presentation at a workshop on bamboo as part of Agrovision farm expo, Farmers shares their experience that how bamboo changed their destiny.
The workshop organized jointly by Agrovision Foundation with Bamboo Society of India (BSI) and Maharashtra Bamboo Development Board made it clear that western Maharashtra farmers and entrepreneurs dealing in bamboo had already stolen a march over Vidarbha where bamboo grows naturally in its reserve forests. Private cultivation is yet to take off here.
Bamboo cultivation in private farms was a lucrative business. A few years ago, it was not easy to convince people in the land of cashew nuts and Hapus mangoes.
But today, two-thirds of the state's bamboo is grown in Konkan.
Sunil Joshi of BSI is hopeful that the tide would soon turn. TSK Reddy, managing director of State Bamboo Development Board, announced that an MoU was signed with Ballarpur paper mills under which the mill personnel would go to collect bamboo from private fields and pay at least Rs3,500 per tonne or more as per market prices.
He said that, said bamboo could be the key for ending farm distress in Vidarbha if grown as a cash crop. He also assured full support to farmers to identify best species for the region.
Source:https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com
