Ethiopia wants India to develop its bamboo industry, says Agency Deputy Director
At a visit to India, Deputy Director of Privatization and Public Enterprises Supervision Agency, Ahmed Nuru told Indian News that with its expertise and entrepreneurship, India can help Ethiopia develop the countries bamboo industry.
''Ethiopia has huge potential in bamboo cultivation. We are eager to develop this as a small and medium industry for which we want India to come forward and help organize the sector,' Ahmed said.
Currently, bamboo plantations cover about one million hectares in Ethiopia, the deputy director told the news agency.
He said ''bamboo has a huge demand locally due to increasing use in industry and housing. It has application in terms of home furnishing, curtains and decorated items and so on. And these are also environmentally safe.''
''We want to now give our bamboo items an export edge for which we are inviting several countries to come and set up large-scale industries,'' he said, adding that Chinese companies have expressed interest in making large-scale investments in Ethiopia's bamboo industry.
Bamboo production in Ethiopia constitutes 67 percent of the total in Africa, it was learnt.
