Kerala State Bamboo Mission - Success Stories
Kerala State Bamboo Mission (KSBM) functioning at Kerala Bureau of Industrial Promotion (K-BIP)
was constituted in 2003 under the Department of Industries & Commerce, Government of Kerala. The
Mission was constituted with the broad aim of marshalling the scattered resources of the State and
adopting a focused approach to revitalize the bamboo sector thereby promoting value addition,
enhancing income generation and alleviating poverty.
The major intervention of KSBM - Conduct of Annual Event “Kerala Bamboo Fest”
Kerala Bamboo Fest is one of the major interventions undertaken by Kerala State Bamboo Mission as
marketing initiative for the development of this sector. It provides a platform for the beneficiaries to
widen market, acquire knowledge about product development and sharing information to each other.
The first edition of ‘Kerala Bamboo Fest’ was organized in 2004 at Town Hall, [Link] 2007,
artisans / craftsmen from outside the State, mainly from the North Eastern States have also been
participating in Kerala Bamboo Fest.
The Bamboo Fest showcases handicrafts, furniture, wood substitutes, building construction &
structural applications, industrial products, specialized bamboo processing machinery/techniques as
well as publications on Bamboo. Individual artisans, master craftsmen, NGOs, SHGs, small-scale
industries, government controlled institutions, manufacturers and organizations from all over the
country participate in the event.
Since its beginning in 2004, the Kerala Bamboo Fest has been conducted every year without fail in
the month of December for the last fifteen years giving an opportunity and a platform for artisans
from the State to interact and share knowledge with the artisans from all over the country. It helps the
artisans to shift from traditional to contemporary perspectives of the bamboo industry and enables
them to present their products in the competitive globalized market.
The Bamboo Fest is accompanied by various cultural programmes such as bamboo music, traditional
bamboo dance, traditional bamboo art forms etc. performed by people belonging to the bamboo
community.
KSBM also conducts a survey among the artisans who participate in the Bamboo Fest every year.
Based on the analysis, it is understood that more than 70 artisans / groups from bamboo sector of the
State has participated in the Fest continuously.
KSBM associated with National Institute of Design (Bangalore) and Shristi Institute of Art, Design
and Technology (Bangalore) to conduct an evaluation on Bamboo products as part of Need
assessment. The evaluation focused on the need of technology input in the process and on design
modifications of the existing products and this enabled us to prepare future training modules.
Each edition of the Fest helps the Mission and the beneficiaries to learn and share information with
each other and leads to various interventions for the development of the Bamboo sector of the State.
Kerala Bamboo Fest provides a platform to create awareness in public about the bamboo products and
its applications. Nowadays most of the public is interested in bamboo items and more enquiries from
the corporate sector has been coming to the Mission’s office. But in the present scenario individual
groups are not in a position to meet these expectations due to lack of facility in productivity
improvement.
When we follow the trail of product development from 2004 to 2018, the artisans developed several
trendy products. On a keen study of the trendy products, it is understood that there are certain issues
in quality of joints and finishing of some products. To address these issues, KSBM has been
organizing Quality Enhancement Training Programmes with the support of recognized institutions /
resource persons in the Bamboo Sector.
The Groups represented in the Quality Enhancement Training Programmes have decided to network
with each other for marketing purposes. The various groups have been trained with this aim in mind
and this has helped in improving their productivity and capacity to meet the demands of the market.
Necessary hand tools are provided to Bamboo groups for development of products.
The latest and 15th edition of ‘Kerala Bamboo Fest’ was organised at Kochi from December 7 to 11,
2018 by setting up Air Conditioned Hangers with 175 stalls for the beneficiaries from inside and
outside the State.
A National Level Workshop was organised concurrent to the Fest on December 10 & 11, 2018 at
The Centre Hotel, Kochi in association with National Bamboo Mission, New Delhi. The officials
from National Bamboo Mission, New Delhi and Mission Directors under the NBM of other States
also participated in the National Level Workshop and visited Kerala Bamboo Fest 2018 Exhibition.
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