BHUBANESWAR: As part of the move to promote bamboo craft and boost skills of traditional artisans of the State, the Handlooms, Textiles and Handicrafts department has decided to set up four common facilitation centres (CFCs) in four districts.
The centres will come up at bamboo clusters in Deogarh (Bamparada), Sambalpur (Sambalpur town), Boudh (Sindurapur in Kantamal block) and Koraput (Boipariguda block). These CFCs will be set up with support of Odisha Bamboo Development Mission (OBDM) under the Forest department.
The Handicrafts department has asked its officials in the districts to identify at least one acre of land for the purpose. The facilitation centres will have everything for bamboo cultivators and artisans under one roof including necessary equipment for processing raw bamboo, technical know-how and training, raw material and market link to sell their processed products.
Sources in the OBDM said bamboo in Odisha is mainly classified into two categories - industrial bamboo which is used for industrial purpose or the paper mill, and commercial bamboo used mainly for household and other works as well as by rural artisans.
The annual production potential of bamboo in the State is estimated to be around 4,00,000 MT. There are around 22,000 bamboo artisans in the State. Although bamboo craft is practised in all districts, the concentration of artisans is high in Bargarh, Sonepur, Sundargarh, Rayagada, Mayurbhanj and Jajpur.