Income from bamboo & cane
handicrafts – cases from Bjoka, Silambi,
Gongdue and Kangpara in Bhutan
By: Dorji Wangdi, Ministry of Economic Affairs
Background information about
Bhutan
• Population 635,000;
• 69 % living in rural areas
• 23.2% of population below national
poverty line of 0.7USD/ day
• Total area: 38’000 km2
• 72.5 % of land area classified as forest
land
Bhutan Map
Bamboo and cane resources for
handicraft production
• Bamboo: Neomicrocalamus andropogonifolius –
a climbing bamboo with flexible culms of 2cm in
diameter
• Cane: Calamus acantospathus and C. latifolius
• Places: Kangpara, Silambi, Gongdue & Bjoka
(several days walking from the road;
characterized by high incidences of poverty)
• Resources are only derived from the wild
• Resources are managed according to a
Community Forest management plan
Cane & Bamboo resources for
handicraft production
Raw Materials
Existing Products
Handicraft production & marketing
• Traditional baskets (bangchugs)
• New products- based on external training in product
development and market demands
• Marketing through community marketing group and sales
centre in Zhemgang (Bjoka), and exhibition and fairs or
mainly unorganized through middlemen
Challenges
• Isolated production areas, thus high transportation
costs, difficult to access information (prices, market
demands & trends), difficult to establish proper and
stable marketing linkages, etc
• Unorganized markets leading to low prices for products
• Quality control
• Ensuring sustainable management of the resources with
increasing demands for bamboo and cane
• Relative low production quantities as these bamboo &
cane species grow only in some selected pockets in the
country
Lessons learnt- resource
management
• Important to have a Community Forest
management plan in place to ensure sustainable
supply of resources and legal access
• Bamboo and cane resource assessment should
be carried out in participation with local peoplepeople will better understand and respect the
outcomes
• Management prescriptions are best defined by
combining local knowledge and technical inputs
from foresters
• Good leadership of CF committee is essential to
ensure proper resource management
Lessons learnt- marketing
• Establishment of marketing group to coordinate marketing activities
is essential:
–
–
–
–
–
Communicate quantity and quality requirements from buyers to artisans
Minimize transportation costs
Agreeing upon time and place to sell products
Setting and monitoring quality standards
Determining standard prices for the products
• Marketing group should be officially established with tasks as above
agreed upon in ToR
• Commission for marketing group members
• Proper record & book keeping essential (ensure accountability &
transparency)
• Exhibitions are important to test new products and establishment of
marketing linkages
• Labeling helps to show the origin and distinctiveness of the product
Lessons learnt- Product
development
New Products
• Most popular products are (still) the traditional products
• If new product designs are introduced, they should:
– Have a clear market demand
– Not be bulky if production area is not accessible by road
– Be suitable to the skills of the artisans
• Weaving centres equipped with solar panels are important to
increase productivity (artisans can work in the evening) but are also
instrumental as meeting places to share ideas and experiences
Conclusion
• Importance to work along entire value chain
including: resource management, product
development and marketing.
• Production of bamboo and cane handicrafts play
crucial role in the livelihoods of people
• Organizing resource and marketing has led in
Bjoka to a doubled income compared to before
the establishment of Community Forest and
marketing groups
Thank you