Bamboo is a plant of tropical or subtropical regions, hollow and woody, with prominent knots, rapid growth, which can reach 40 meters in height. Some of the salient features of bamboo are as follows:
FAST GROWING RENEWABLE RESOURCE
Bamboo grows very fast. It is a natural renewable resource that grows twice as fast as a tree and matures within an average span of 3 years. When harvested, it need not be replanted, because it will grow a new shoot from its extensive root system. Certain species can grow up to 1 meter per day.
ENVIRONMENT FRIENDLY
Bamboo stabilizes the earth with its roots, preventing erosion. It recycles a huge amount of CO2 (12 tons / hectare) and produces 35% more oxygen than an equivalent stand of trees. It can also provide habitat for birds and animals.
SOURCE OF LIVELIHOOD
The bamboo economy ranging from resource generation to value added applications has supported approximately 8.6 million livelihoods in the country (source: 10th Plan). Smallholders at the forest fringes, in particular improve their livelihoods by processing bamboo growing it in their backyards. With planned development of integrated bamboo based clusters most value addition can be done closer to the resource, resulting in large scale socio economic benefits.
SOURCE OF GREEN POWER
Gassifiers can produce electricity using bamboo biomass as fuel. These can be used to generate a renewable source of power to be used in the industrial / community operations. It will be an incremental source of power and increase the cost efficiency of commercial operations.