Thursday, 10 April 2014 01:13
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The Bamboo Association was formed recently to support the bamboo-based industries in Sri Lanka and already UNIDO has funded Rs. 800,000 to establish a pilot project in Padukka to train 20 youth in the bamboo-based industry for six months.
Director of UNIDO and President of the Association Nawaz Rajabdeen said that at present 5,500 hectares of bamboo are available in the country while plans are underway to increase it to 10,000 hectares within the next six years to support the bamboo-based industry. He said that funding for forming the Bamboo Association too was by UNIDO in Vienna.
All products made using bamboo as a raw material are advanced in other countries such as Philippines, Vietnam and China while in our country only a few are engaged in this industry and they have no plans for the future.
It is an ideal industry for Sri Lanka as it is environment friendly, fast growing and also stops the chopping of large trees which in turn protect the environment, said Rajabdeen.
Therefore UNIDO together with other stakeholders decided to start the association and explore all opportunities. He said that another bottleneck for developing the industry is that bamboo is grown on river banks to protect soil erosion and therefore the Government has prohibited the cutting and transporting of bamboo from one district to another.
“As an association which represents the growers and the industry we want to build a strong association to facilitate the bamboo based industry and we plan to have workshops, seminars and training programs to create an awareness of what benefits it can have on the society.”
Among the many uses of bamboo are craft industry, flooring, ceiling and brickets while the waste can be used for bio mass.
Rajabdeen said that they will get the support of the Industrial Development Board to train the trainers and to identify the products which can be made from bamboo. He said that they are also planning to help the small time manufacturers to market their products and get a good price while we will also give an opportunity to showcase the products at the IDB showroom at Katubedda.
The other stakeholders of the project are the Mahaweli Authority under the Ministry of Irrigation, Ministry of Environment, Ministry of Agriculture, Forest Department and the Environmental Authority.
The members of the Association are President Nawaz Rajabdeen, Vice Presidents Nimal Samarakkody and Nimal Perera, Secretary Greshan Nanayakkara, Treasurer Malin Goonatilaka and members H.L.C.G. Wijesekera, Manik Weerasinghe and Nishan Fernando.
