The New Nation - Internet Edition

BSS, Chittagong

Bangladesh is going to first ever export of bamboo shoot, especially in the South East Asian countries from the first week of August this year .

The export of bamboo shoot is on the card as successful trial production has started since June 1 following setting up a Treatment and Scientific Processing Plant (TSPL), at a cost of Taka 85 lakh, beside Karnaphuli Tea Estate in Fatikchari upazila.

Project director Mohammad Jashim Uddin told BSS that nearly 450 acres of land was brought under bamboo shoot cultivation this year in Fatikchari and three other hill districts.

The production is expected to be in full swing from July this year. In this connection nearly five metric tons of bamboo shoot will be processed by the TSPL in first three months and the production will be increased after expanding the processing centers in December next, Jashim said.

As huge demand of Molly Bamboo in China, Japan, Thailand and Malaysia for its deliciousness, we expect to export the bamboo shoot at six US dollar per kilogram, he added. The project director said the export growth rate is increasing to 20 percent every year. Bangladesh has a huge potential to utilize the Chinese technology and earn huge foreign currency like readymade garments and shrimp sectors, he added.

Mohammad Jashim Uddin, Project Director and head of the agriculture research division of Forest research Institute in Chittagong said China produces 2500 items of goods from bamboo including food, medicine and cosmetic and exports it to different countries including Japan and the United States. In this connection an agreement was signed between the Forest Research Institute in Chittagong and the International Center for Bamboo and Rattan (ICBR) of China in September 2008.

Under the agreement ICBR transferred the technology in bamboo shoot production, processing and marketing from China to Bangladesh free of cost. The ICBR has also set up a TSPL over three acres of land in Fatikchhari beside the tea estate of Bangladesh Rural Advancement Committee (BARC), according to the agreement.

A total of Taka 1,37 crore was received as Common Fund for Commodity (CFC) by Bangladesh for bamboo cultivation project from International Network for Bamboo and Rattan (INBER), an organization of worldwide aiding for Bamboo production through International Center for Bamboo and Rattan (ICBR), an organization of Bamboo and Rattan production aiding in China.

The project tenure is three years from January 2008 to December 2010.

After receiving the fund, the Forest Research Institute in Chittagong had started work to attract the farmers and big entrepreneurs to cultivate bamboo shoots.

A huge number of entrepreneurs and individuals had started cultivation of bamboo shoots in three hill districts and Fatikachhri upazila.

The cultivation will be doubled in next year, he said adding that the BFRI had organized four training programmes for the individuals and farmers of bamboo shoots in the last fiscal year.

The authorities also organized a training programme for the big entrepreneurs like BRAC and the officials of Forest Research Institute last month and three motivation programmes for the farmers and entrepreneurs in three hill district during the last six months for introducing the sectors and conveying the prospects about the cultivation of bamboo shoots.

The main objective of the project is to promote the grassroots level farmers about the cultivation and marketing of bamboo shoots and reduction poverty through creating employment, the project director said.

He said that they were contemplating to import different kinds of high yielding variety bamboo sapling from China from August next.