The gentleman was from the Northeastern region of India and he was in Delhi to be interviewed for a fellowships programme. He was passionate about bamboo. He showed me a fountain pen he’d crafted with bamboo. Would it work as well as the conventional pen, I asked. He silently handed me the pen and a sheet of paper. The ink flowed just right and I marveled at the smooth outcome. This was 18 years ago, when bamboo was normally used to make poles, baskets, cane furniture, screens, fences and handicraft items.

Bamboo poles were used to erect huge cutouts in Tamil Nadu. Or support pandals at weddings and at construction sites as scaffolding. Sewage pipe cleaners, clad only in tightly wound loincloth would carry long, slender and strong strips of bamboo; it was their work tool.

Bamboo was exotic; wind (musical) instruments like Krishna’s flute were made of bamboo. Bamboo was also less expensive to grow than trees that have a long lifespan but which typically take several decades to grow. However, no one discussed bamboo as a possible solution to deforestation.

At Delhi University’s South Campus, the new canteen is made of bamboo; it’s called the Bamboo Hut. University sources say that the bamboo structure is cheaper even than temporary structures and is fire-resistant. There is a proposal to construct extra rooms with bamboo for classes that have no room in the existent buildings. It reminded me of the Earl Grant song I loved listening to: “Number 54, the house with a bamboo door; with bamboo roof and bamboo walls, it’s even got a bamboo floor!”

A computer manufacturer in Europe is marketing a laptop with its outer casing made of bamboo as an eco-friendly product. Bamboo is also durable, light, and affordable. In Zambia, two Californians and two Zambians are collaborating to make bamboo bike frames, because bamboo absorbs shocks well and so would make bicycle riding on the rough terrain there relatively smoother.

As the fastest growing plant, bamboo – 1,000 species grow worldwide -- could provide the answer to deforestation. A bamboo sapling grows to its full potential in four years compared to Oak that takes 50 years and others that take up to 70 years to reach maturity. Yet bamboo is said to be as long lasting and sturdy as Oak.

New technology enables splitting the bamboo into neat strips that can be used for many different purposes.” India’s Northeast is home to 60 per cent of the country’s bamboo resources but only ten per cent of it is accessible,” says Antonios Levissianos, senior industrial development officer with the UN Industrial Development Organisation (UNIDO). If the government continues to go for bamboo plantations, there is great potential, he says. He explains that bamboo doesn’t need specially treated land; it can grow in areas where mining activity has left the land barren. But, he adds, infrastructure needs to be provided for transportation, whether by way of roads or canals.

To get a good quality crop of bamboo it is necessary to go for good tissue cultivation and cloning of species, as different products can be made with different species of bamboo. And no forest area needs to be encroached to do this. Bamboo yields wood, and bamboo shoots are edible, and lend themselves well to Indian cuisine. Bamboo applications include use in making textiles and furniture. Its extract has medicinal value and can be used in pharmaceutical produce. Bamboo is used to filter wastewater during effluent treatment in industries.

Bamboo makes for eco-friendly homes and these can be earthquake resistant. Exploring the potential of bamboo can generate a reasonable amount of employment as well. UNIDO in India is engaged in creating awareness of the uses of bamboo and is providing new technology to be used in processing and in manufacturing of products, especially to make bamboo termite-resistant.

China has four million hectares of bamboo and is probably the best example of extensive bamboo use, besides other Southeast Asian countries where the scale might be a little less than China’s. Many Buddhist temples have bamboo groves where monks sit and meditate in salubrious surroundings. One such is in Bodh Gaya, where Gautama Buddha is said to have spent considerable time in silent meditation.

Antonios says that the only bamboo factory is located in the Northeast region, where there is a project to make window blinds and shutters with the material. From being known as a poor man’s timber, bamboo is now growing to be the most promising substitute for wood and there is great scope for generating rural employment. “The virtues of bamboo are not new, but the interest in it is,” says Antonios.

India’s current demand for bamboo is an estimated 27 million tonnes. However only 50 per cent of that demand can be met because of lack of facilities for value addition and transportation. A Cane and Bamboo Technology Centre was set up in Guwahati in 2000 by the ministry of agriculture, supported financially by UNIDO. The National Bamboo Mission was to give a thrust to industry and employment in the Northeast. However, a lot more needs to be done so that the mission gets a boost and opens up opportunities for sustainable development.

That several creation myths, especially in Southeast Asia where the plant is endemic, allude to life emerging from the bamboo could be a pointer to its value as a resource that can be grown and used in a manner that does not compromise the environment.

Ref: Narayani Ganesh - TOI