Presentation made at 3rd Northeast Connectivity Summit, 2016 on opportunities for investment in bamboo processing by Mr..George Jenner,Director, Industries & Commerce dept, Tripura

1. Bamboo for
Sustainable Livelihood
A Success Story of Tripura Bamboo Mission
V. George Jenner, IFS
18 December
2016

2. Bamboo: the Wonder Grass
 Fastest Growing Plant on this planet
 Globally more than 1200 species
 Abundantly found in Asia
 More than 1500 applications
 Traditional Forest Resource and Source of
Livelihood
 India – the second richest country in terms
of sp. diversity with 136 species after China
 9.57 million hectares (12.8% of the total
area under forests)
 The annual production of bamboo in India is
about 4.6 million tonnes most of which is
Unutilized
Source: National Bamboo Mission
State/region Area
%
Growing stock
%
North East 28.0 66
Central India 20.3 12
Maharashtra 9.9 5
Orissa 8.7 7
AP 7.4 2
Karnataka 5.5 3
Others 20.2 5

3. Bamboo in Tripura
23 Bamboo species is one of
the major bamboo producing
states in India
Major NTFP
providing livelihood
support to large
number of households
Commercialized
Bamboo Products in
large scale fulfilling
demands of growing
domestic market
Largest Skill base in India;
Leading supplier of Bamboo
Stick, Basket and Mat

4. Tripura Bamboo Mission: A timely initiative
 Tripura: First State to adopt a state bamboo policy
in 2001
 TBM was launched in 2006 by Dept. of Industries
& Commerce
 Objective is to Strengthen Bamboo sector by
increasing turnover and livelihood engagement
 Implementation started in 2007 in private public
partnership framework with IL&FS Clusters as PIA
 Initially governed by a Mission Steering
Committee and 3 Sub-sector Committees
 Presently TBM is a registered society headed by
the Chief Secretary Govt. of Tripura
Implementation
started with IL&FS
as PIA
TBM Project
Phase-I
TBM Project
Phase-II
TBM Project
Phase-III
2006 - 2007 2007-10 2010-12 2012-17Evaluation
2009
By APTDC
Evaluation
2011
By APTDC
Evaluation
2015
By CII-GKAFC

5. Strategy & Approach
Major Bamboo
based activities
as Sub-sectors
Interventions
ranging from
community
mobilization to
business support
Value Addition
with ‘farm to
Market’
approach
Delivery of
interventions
through Cluster
Development

6. Sub-sectors & Geographical Footprints
Incense Stick
Handicraft
Plantation Industrial ApplicationFurniture
 TBM- implemented across the state
covering 8 districts and 40 clusters
Dhari mat

7. Sticks sub-sector
There are 8 Bamboo Round Sticks unit operational in Tripura with combined capacity of 15 MT / month
Existing Handmade
Sticks
Mechanized Round
Sticks
Quality of Bamboo
Stick
Low, non-uniform
surface
High, uniform surface
Production Capacity 5-6 kg per day per
artisan
80-100 kg per shift
per machine
Wastage of raw
material
30-35% 70-80% (if unutilized)
Earning potential for
artisan
Rs. 50-60 per day Rs. 200-300 per day
Investment on tools &
equipment
Below Rs. 700 per
artisan
High; minimum Rs.
15 lakh per unit
Operation Highly unorganized Mostly organized
Product Demand in
Market
Very Low Demand Very High Demand
Suitability in machine
rolled batti making
Not suitable with
significant rejection
Suitable for machine
rolling with almost
no rejection
Handmade Bamboo sticks for Agarbatti
Machine made Round Sticks for Agarbatti
Click to See Video

8. Sticks sub-sector
 TBM has so far installed 860 pedal type Agarbatti Rolling machines in the state under various
projects; 120 more machines are being installed
Handrolling of Agarbatti
Mechanized Rolling of
Agarbatti
Hand-rolled Agarbatti
Machine-rolled Agarbatti
Existing Hand
Rolling process
Mechanized Rolling
Technique
Quality of Agarbatti Low, non-uniform
surface, often have
burnout issue
High, uniform surface with
negligible burn out issue
Production Capacity 3-4 kg per day per
artisan
12-15 kg per day per artisan
Wastage of raw
material
10% Less than 5%
Average Earning
potential for artisan
Rs. 30-40 per day Rs. 100-140 per day
Investment on tools
& equipment
Below Rs. 500 per
artisan
High; minimum Rs. 25,000
per machine
Operation Highly unorganized Mostly organized
Product Demand in
Market
Decreasing Demand Increasing Demand
 Marketing Tie up with ITC has been re-established for Round Stick made Raw Batti; Sample
product testing is being conducted
 There is one Agarbatti Masala making unit at Kumarghat with installed capacity of 50MT
Click to See Video

9. Value Addition in Incense Sticks

10. Handicrafts sub-sector
8216 persons trained during 2007-16 20 National Awardees & 3 Shilpa Guru
23 major Craft clusters 20 thousand highly skilled artisan
Low value running mat to higher value mat & mat based utility products
Low value baskets to higher value utility baskets
Click to See Video

11. Design & Product Development
focusing on products that have high demand and can be produced & sold in bulk
Need for
Design
Skill Survey &
Market
Feedback
Design
Concept
Development
Prototype &
Sample
Development
Documentati
on
Dissemination to
respective Producer
Group/ Cluster

12. Income Level- for Highly Skilled artisan
Income Earned per
Daily: Rs. 200/-
Monthly: Rs. 5000/-

13. Furniture sub-sector
 Bamboo Furniture has an universal appeal by virtue of its eco-
friendly attributes and contemporary looks
 Tripura has special solid bamboo species called Kanakkaich
(T.oilveri) that is most suited for round pole bamboo furniture
making
 A complete range of contemporary designs have been
developed by TBM in collaboration with NID Ahmedabad
 Capacities of Producer groups have been strengthened
 They are now capable of undertaking turnkey projects of
bamboo resort including complete furnishing.

14. Dhari sub-sector
 Bamboo mat (Dhari) is used as the basic raw material
for making of composite boards, bamboo ply, mat
boards, furnishing products, pre-fabricated board etc.
 11 mat board manufacturing units in India
 Tripura is a major producer of Bamboo Mat (Dhari);
however export to mat board units has been limited due
to price mismatch.
 Dhari is being widely used locally for domestic &
construction purpose.

15. Industrial Application sub-sector
 India’s First Bamboo Industrial Park developed in Tripura; Total Area 135 acre
 Located at Bodhjungnagar-R K Nagar Industrial area, on the outskirts of Agartala
 Operational units at present: Bamboo Flooring Tiles, Bamboo Round Stick
 Upcoming Units: Furniture, Round Stick, Pellet
 Support to Investors by linking with different schemes
Promotion of Technology Intensive Industrial Application of Bamboo
Development of Industrial Clusters exclusively for Bamboo

16. Resource Generation sub-sector (HDBP)
Year
Plantation
Area, Ha
Beneficiaries
Person
2010-11 75.34 139
2011-12 64.22 163
2012-13 157.28 356
2013-14 287.56 380
2014-15 362.00 524
2015-16 85.00 168
2016-17 573.00 1105
Total 1604.40 2835
S C Para, Hezamara block
April 2013 plantation MGNREGA
 High Density Bamboo Plantation (HDBP)
Technology developed by TBM
 Ensures higher yield as much as 25MT/ha
compared to >5MT/ha in conventional method
 Managed plantation with scientific
harvesting generates income not less than 1.20
lakh/ ha
 Plantation in Non-Forest Land through
convergence with MGNREGA
 State Forest Dept. adopted HDBP
technique in their schedules
Click to See Video

17. Marketing & Trade Facilitation
 TBM Trade Facilitation Cell manages marketing through a company formed by
the beneficiaries: Simanta Handicraft Products Pvt. Ltd.
Market Support to Producers: Providing Direct linkages with Buyer
 Supply Chain Support: Maintaining Raw Material Bank for critical consumables
Dharmanag
ar
Salema
Mungiakami-
Teliamura
Durlavnaraya
n- Nalchar
Gandhigram-
Narsingarh
Matabari-
Udaipur
STATE LEVEL APEX
BODY (COMPANY)
CLUSTERLEVEL
FEDERATIONS
PG 1 PG 2 PG 3 PG 4 PG 5
VILLAGELEVEL
PRODUCER
GROUPS
Jirania
Jogendrana
gar
BaikhoraKaladhepa

18. Online Market Penetration
 Besides its own e-portal, TBM has successfully penetrated into national online market for
marketing of products especially the Handicrafts
 The trading is done either by SHPPL or the authorized buyers of SHPPL located all over the country
 Major platforms include: Amazon, Mabelkart, Silkrute, Flipkart, Khadishop, Indiatradezone,
Indiamart to name a few

19. Creation of Production Infrastructure
 19 CFCs with Modern Infrastructure & Tools for enhanced productivity & production capacity.
3 more CFCs are being set up under NEC handicraft project
 The centers are managed by community owned enterprises.

20. Key Achievements
Turnover
Increased from Rs 28 cr to Rs 121 cr in 2014, dipped to Rs 80 cr in
2016 mostly due to decline in incense sticks
Livelihood
Creation
• Handicrafts: 20,000 artisans earning Rs 4000 – Rs 8000 / month
• Incense Stick : 55,000 producers earning Rs 2000 – Rs 4000/month
• Rolled Batti : 1000 rollers earning Rs 3000 – Rs 5000 / month
• Plantation: 1500 growers earning more than 1 lakh/ ha
Skill Training
Over 45000 persons in different aspect of Bamboo Value Addition &
Resource Generation
Infrastructure 19 Cluster level CFCs and Bamboo Park established
Technology
• Introduction of power tools in Handicrafts
• Mechanization in Incense rolling
• Introduction of High Density Bamboo Plantation
Market
Promotion
•E-Commerce through leading portals and own portal
• Market support through linkage with leading retailers and
distributors through apex marketing Company SHPPL
Design Over 500 new designs developed and commercialized
Fund Mobilized Rs. 68.95 cr mobilized largely from various Central Govt sources

21. Sub-sector specific Export Achievement
Baseline Achievement
Sector/ Sub-
sector
2006-07 2007-08 2008-09 2009-10 2010-11 2011-12 2012-13 2013-14 2014-15 2015-16
1 Bamboo Stick 12.90 15.55 31.77 46.79 54.52 55.62 61.30 42.60 28.10 14.63
2 Raw/Finished
Agarbatti 0.00 1.84 4.00 7.24 15.00 25.20 24.70 46.25 32.80 19.20
3 Mat (Dhari)
sector 0.00 0.78 1.57 1.44 1.05 1.32 2.10 1.50 1.75 1.93
4 Handicrafts &
Furniture 15.00 16.88 19.22 20.56 21.50 24.02 26.68 30.03 35.62 38.42
5 Industrial
application 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.96 1.00 1.06 0.78 0.94 3.15 6.08
Resource
Generation 0.51 1.08 2.13 3.45
Total 27.90 35.05 56.56 76.99 93.07 107.22 116.07 122.40 103.55 83.70
0.00
20.00
40.00
60.00
80.00
100.00
120.00
140.00
2006-07 2007-08 2008-09 2009-10 2010-11 2011-12 2012-13 2013-14 2014-15 2015-16
Resource Generation
Industrial application
Handicrafts & Furniture
Mat (Dhari) sector
Raw & Finished Agarbatti
Bamboo Stick

22. Impact of TBM
Organized Primary Aggregators &
Direct Market linkage with bulk
buyer; community owned
grasroot enterprises
Improved & Customized
Technology enhanced
product quality &
productivity
Contemporary Designs
targeting niche markets
gets higher value & return to
producers
Improved Cluster
Infrastructure enabling
organized production activity
in the cluster
Most of the Artisans covered
under various social security
schemes; more than 95% of
beneficiaries are Women
Growing interest for
Commercial Bamboo
Plantation among public &
private investors
Tripura has become the leading state for Bamboo industrialization in India
With improved perception, the people in Tripura now considers Bamboo as Green Gold

23. Partners in progress
 Project Funding:- NEC, DoNER, NBM,
MGNREGA, NMBA, JICA, IGDC, Special SGSY,
DC(Handicrafts), NInC, ASIDE MoC
 Design & Technology:- NID, NIFT, IICD,
IPIRTI, FFDC, CSIR-CIMAP, CMRE, Industree,
Udayan, Growmore biotech, BCDI
 Forward & Backward linkage:- ITC, NRRS,
THHDC, NEHHDC, Mother Earth, Sree Balaji,
Realshoppee.com, Catena Technologies

24. Uniqueness of the programme
• PPP framework: Private partner implements the entire programme with
dedicated manpower
• No govt. official deputed except the Mission Director
• No budgetary allocation for TBM; PIA has the responsibility to mobilize fund
to run the project
• Convergence with several line departments and schemes
• Runs on a mission mode with clear targets & timeline that ensures effective
project delivery with visible impact
• More than 95% of beneficiaries are women

25. Recognition, Accreditation, Award
 Tripura Bamboo Mission Awarded the “North East Business Excellence
Award – 2009” GOI
Tripura Bamboo Mission was awarded by the Bihar Innovation Forum Award
 Tripura Bamboo Mission- ISO 9001:2008 certified
 Finalist in NE Social Impact Award 2015
 Case study in ‘Niti Ayog’ and National Skill Mission

26. THANK YOU
Contact Details:
Mission Director
Tripura Bamboo Mission
IL&FS Clusters, 1st Floor Dasgupta Vila, near Governor House
Kunjaban, Agartala-799 006, Tripura
+91-381-2300419 tripurabamboo@gmail.com www.tripurabamboo.com
Click to See Video-Bamboo Park