'World Bamboo Day' observed in Nagaland

Nagaland observed 'World Bamboo Day' with an aim to raise awareness about the use of bamboo in the state.

Bamboo, which is an integral part of the northeast culture, is not just a part of the rituals but also a source of income to many.

The northeast has huge reserves of bamboo, which is known as "Green Gold". About 28 per cent of India's bamboo forests are located in the northeast.

This year's World Bamboo Day was celebrated with the theme 'A Natural celebration'.

Local artisans, self help groups and students from various schools took part at the two-day event organized by the Nagaland Bamboo Development Agency (NBDA).

A team leader at NBDA, Khrienuo C Metha, said that the main aim of the event is to impart skills among locals to make bamboo products which are marketable.

"In Nagaland, bamboo has become of great importance to everybody and we have now realized that it can be used as an engineering material, although it has been with from time in memorial. In all the villages bamboo has been a part of our life," Mehta said.

"Today here at the resource centre we are trying to upgrade the skills, we are trying to give them training program so that the skill or the indigenous talent that they already have becomes a marketable kind of an item that they make of bamboo," he added.

Some bamboo experts also highlighted the different uses of Bamboo on the occasion. As part of the celebration, bamboo handicrafts exhibition, bamboo food delicacies stall and bamboo theme pavilion were also set up.

Various bamboo products like furniture, bags and colorful decorative items were kept on displayed.

Awards were also given away to best performing village bamboo development committee, most promising craftsman, entrepreneur, self help groups and most supportive institute.

Kevin Gurung, a student, said that NBDA's event has been beneficial for them.

"We learnt the importance of bamboo. In Nagaland, we have lots of resources and bamboo is one of the main things. We learnt to make good use of bamboo and what is there for Nagaland we have to find out and make things better," he said.

In northeast, there is a huge potential for exports of bamboo products to the international markets.

The sector can generate jobs and good revenue for the region.