Odisha Handicrafts Department has decided to set up four common facilitation centres (CFCs) in four districts to promote bamboo craft. The move will also boost skills of traditional artisans of the State.
Deogarh (Bamparada), Sambalpur (Sambalpur town), Boudh (Sindurapur in Kantamal block) and Koraput (Boipariguda block) will be the initial districts to get bamboo clusters. These centres will be set up with support of Odisha Bamboo Development Mission (OBDM) under the Forest department.
The craft department has asked its district officials to set aside at least one acre of land for this purpose. The support centers will have everything for bamboo growers and artisans under one roof, including the necessary equipment for processing raw bamboo, technical know-how and training, raw materials and market connections for selling their processed products.
Sources in the OBDM said that bamboo in Odisha is mainly classified into two categories – industrial bamboo used for industrial purposes or the paper mill, and commercial bamboo used mainly for household and other work and by rural handicraftsmen.
Notably, the annual production potential of bamboo in the state is estimated at around 4,00,000 tons. There are around 22,000 bamboo artisans in the state. Although bamboo handicrafts are practised in all districts, the concentration of artisans is high in Bargarh, Sonepur, Sundargarh, Rayagada, Mayurbhanj and Jajpur.
