Challenges Faced in the Bamboo Industry
Author: Sruti Soumya Mishra
In this era of industrialization, there have been a number of industries that keep growing for making human life more and more efficient. Recently, the world has made entry into industrializing the “Bamboo”. Bamboo has been no doubt an ideal and decorous choice for the people due to it greatly replacing the use of wood. The bamboo industry has been growing since time immemorial and people involved in the job have been giving out amazing bamboo handicrafts, artifacts, furniture, etc. Despite too many advantages of using Bamboo for achieving a great economical advantage, the Bamboo industry no doubt is not a smooth sail. Some of the advantages of bamboo can be seen as anenvironment-friendly piece of product. Bamboo is known to be a great product that helps in lowering the CO2 levels in the atmosphere. Also, the main advantage that bamboo has over others is the fastest growth period and the prevention of some other cultivation hazards like soil erosion, infertility, etc.
There have been some basic and disheartening challenges that the bamboo industries have to face today. Some of this may be due to political factors, management factors, or some may arise due to financial loads too. Following would give a person a better outlook on the bamboo industrial challenges and opportunities that have been faced by the industry for a long time now.
Lack of Infrastructure In The Industry
Whichever industry one sets up, the main driving force to run the industry successfully lies in the infrastructure or the machines which can be used to progress the work efficiently. Most of the bamboo industrial setups have utilized manpower to make the products. The reliance of the industry greatly onmanpower is what makes it miserable. This lack of infrastructure, for the industry, is also due to the lack of support from the authorities for commercializing bamboo usage. The bamboo industry has been constantly suffering from the labor force too.
Severe Drops in The Demands
The main factual problem with the bamboo industry lies within consumer interests. No doubt bamboo has been a highly economically feasible product to make the most of it. But there has been a sharp decline in the customers demanding the use of bamboo. This has led the industry to suffer a lot too. Also, due to the revolution to save trees on the planet, and with the advancement in technology many industries that were outsourcing bamboo have shut down the usage of bamboo. The bamboo industry with the new technology has become vulnerable with many cool gadgets releasing into the market. Even the paper industrialists today would not prefer bamboo.
Decrease in The Cultivation of Bamboo
The above heading highly indicates that the bamboo industry does have to deal with the supply side. Asia has been a continent that is blessed for bamboo cultivation. Still, then the cultivation and the people’s interest in it seem to be a faraway dream. For this India did carry out the mission with the name – National Bamboo Mission in the year 2018 to promote the growth of the bamboo industry and its extensive cultivation.
Labor Efficiency
Another thing that would surely be the biggest problem for the bamboo industry lies in the less efficient workers in the industry. Industries are highly maintained as a successful business only due to the skilled labor and intelligent working people in the primary section. As it is told above that the bamboo industry highly relies on manpower. Hence, most of this manpoweris the people who have never been trained or given knowledge to properly use and utilize the bamboo in making a product. Hence, reduced efficiency becomes a problem for the industry.
Financial and Legal Problems
In some countries like India, Bamboo cannot be grown anywhere just as someone would wish to. The cultivation of bamboo in a particular area is needed to be done by getting the permission of the higher authorities in charge. Hence, this highly leaves many industrialists to leave the idea of plantations. Bamboo industries do suffer from a lack of capital as the initial stages of setting up the industry would not require a huge contribution, but the maintenance of the bamboo forests is the big deal.
A Rural Notion
The bamboo industry has not become so modernized as the other industries have grown today. The bamboo industry is still assumed to be a part of the rural communities or backward areas. Hence, the industries are incapable of grabbing the opportunities to extend arms to the bigger markets. Lack of protection laws, lack of knowledge in the industrial sector, and also lack of sustainable regulation for the development of the bamboo industry is the problem that needs to be tackled.
Conclusion
Despite the challenges faced in the bamboo industry, the growth of the industry cannot be completely ignored. Today, Bamboo is being used in the Gasifier to generate electricity, also used for fuel, bamboo is also being used in the fiber and fabric industries incense sticks industry, flooring, furnishing, etc. There have been still some research areas and improvements that are needed to make the bamboo products more long-lasting.
It is high time to let know everyone the fact that bamboo is the future of the world and especially the Asian countries like India. This can contribute to the country's economic development by increasing the wealth of the farmers. The main thing that is needed to be done to overcome these challenges is to plan out a whole system of the processes which would develop and strengthen the relationship of the businesses and factories. Bamboo forestry needs to be promoted and new equipment needs to be provided for every bamboo commercial sector. The problem does not only stop here. The best practice to strengthen the backbone of the bamboo industry would be to encourage the owners, small businesses, and workers to learn about bamboo’s advantages and its efficiency. A country like India has the potential and power to utilize the bamboo growth and development to the fullest which would make the GDP of the country much higher.
