ADB approves $42.2 mn loan to boost bamboo industry in northeast region

New Delhi: The Asian Development Bank (ADB) has approved a USD 42.2 million small-expenditure financing facility to develop the bamboo industry in India’s northeastern states, boosting agricultural productivity, strengthening rural livelihoods, and reducing dependence on imports.

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The facility will support community-based projects that enhance the growth, usage, and management of bamboo resources across Assam, Manipur, Meghalaya, Mizoram, Nagaland, and Tripura through multiple subloans financing a range of activities, including those ensuring the participation and employment of women across the value chain, the Asian Development Bank (ADB) said in a statement.

It will also establish at least one women-led manufacturing facility in each state, it said.

"By harnessing the country’s abundant bamboo resources and building private sector-led industrial value chains, ADB’s financing will stimulate trade, investment, and infrastructure," said ADB Country Director for India Mio Oka.

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It will diversify income sources for rural households, reducing their dependence on natural hazard-sensitive crops and strengthening economic resilience, she said.

Despite holding 39 per cent of the world’s forest bamboo, India’s bamboo value chain remains underdeveloped and reliant on imports, ADB said.

Aligned with the National Bamboo Mission, the small expenditure financing facility (SEFF) will strengthen bamboo cultivation, production, and marketing to increase incomes of producers and expand access to finance for private investors and entrepreneurs, it added.

It will support capacity building for the National and State Bamboo Missions and technical institutions, bamboo resource management and mapping, research and training, project design and procurement, and digital value chain solutions, it said.

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