Short Summary of Project Area
Pangsha Upazila is situated in Rajbari District, its area is 414.24 sq km, located in between 22°40' and 22°55' north latitudes and in between 89°19' and 89°36' east longitudes. It is bounded by Pabna district on the north, Magura district on the south, and khoksa and kumarkhali upazilas of Kostya district on the west. Average literacy 44%; male 43.6%, female 36.2%. Main sources of income Agriculture 67.97%, non-agricultural labourer 2.87%, industry 0.75%, commerce 11.63%, transport and communication 3.27%, service 5.12%, construction 1.11%, religious service 0.15%, rent and remittance 0.48% and others 6.65%. Population Total 217203; male 112442, female 104761; Muslim 211953, Hindu 25188 and others 62.
Project Details
Furniture is big business in Bangladesh. The government describes it as a ‘thrust sector,’ a reference to its continued growth over the past two decades. But growth remains precarious, given the sector’s dependence on imported wood - a consequence of government efforts to restrict logging and protect the country’s dwindling forests. Many companies are importing wood - incurring import duties of up to 92 percent - but one entrepreneur gambled on a resource much closer to home. That resource is bamboo and cane.
Bamboo and Cane development was not initially considered -
despite growing widely in the ‘rice belt’ that stretches across the hills of
northern Bangladesh. Confined to the production of traditional household items
and scaffolding, many ignore the plant’s high value applications - an oversight
that partly stems from the widespread negative perceptions about bamboo.
“In Bangladesh, bamboo and cane have a negative connotation,” says Sherfehnaz Khan, Chief Coordinator for AKP. “In our colloquial speech, if you say that you have insulted someone, it is the equivalent of saying ‘you’ve hit them with bamboo.” Many also question its durability, given that untreated bamboo disintegrates in contact with water.
Bamboo and Cane are arguably world’s most important
non-timber forest product, playing a vital role in the livelihoods of millions
of people across the tropics and sub-tropics. Production offers rural
communities an opportunity to engage in a growing sector worth some 60 billion
USD every year.
The project is aimed at contributing to the economic development of Pangsha Upazila, and facilitating emergence of job-creating opportunities for poor people. The project is focused on building the entrepreneurial capacities of Pangsha Upazila poor people to exploit business opportunities in employable sectors especially forestry.
Working with the private sector and civil society organizations, the project will promote capacity building for creation of sustainable enterprises. In order to address the inherent problems related to capital requirements and business refinancing, a seed-fund to support business start-ups, micro loans facility and innovations will be set-up, to complement local financial institutions and the national initiatives. The project is modelled on promoting value chains, and leveraging mobile technology, research and on-line portals to facilitate access to both local and regional markets and promote viable enterprises and inclusive markets. The project will be implemented through business models such enterprise mix, value chain financing, mentorship and incubation support.
Increasing the tree coverage of Pangsha Upazila landscape as a way of environmental rehabilitation and combating the country’s severe soil erosion has become a major objective of the Government of Pangsha Upazila through the Ministry of Forestry and Land Reclamation. The Forestry Department, within this Ministry, is undertaking a number of projects such as tree planting, nursery establishment, apiculture training program and fruit tree development that present opportunities for youth and women job creation. These initiatives need to be supported and scaled-up to create business enterprises out of the current subsistence level of operation.
Project Description
The project will use forestry based as entry sectors to
create sustainable employment for youth and women in Pangsha Upazila. The
choice of this sectors is in recognition of the fact that forestry has
multi-functional roles in development including the potential for delivering
environmental and socio-cultural benefits including ecosystem services, rural
livelihood enhancement, enhancing food security and providing inputs for
forward-linked industries. In addition, the project will pay particular
attention to the needs of the vulnerable populations, especially the youth and
women living with and affected by the HIV and AIDS pandemic. It will build on
government’s priority areas described in the National Strategic Development
Plan and take into consideration key programmes such as that of the Ministry of
Gender and Youth, Sports and Recreation, Ministry of Forestry and Land
Reclamation, Ministry of Agriculture and Food Security, the Ministry of Trade
and Industry Cooperatives and Marketing and LUNDAF.
The project builds upon initiatives on youth employment,
empowerment and financial inclusion to translate into employment creation for
youth and women. The implementing partners for this project are the Ministry of
Forestry, Ministry of Agriculture, Ministry of Trade, UNDP, NGOs and private
sector.
Project Goal and Objectives
The goal of this project is to pursue high, shared and
employment creating economic growth and enhance the skills base for innovation
and technology adoption. This will further contribute to poverty eradication
and accelerate economic growth by creating opportunities for employment, for
women and youth through promotion of inclusive markets and development.
The specific objectives for the project are to:
Build capacity and develop skills for poor people groups
through delivery of sustainable extension services and entrepreneurial training
for improved productivity to access local and foreign markets.
-Promote environmentally sustainable inclusive markets
models through development of both local and cross-border value chains by
fostering establishment of forward and backward linkages for both
entrepreneurship and enterprises development.
-Provide opportunities for increased access to finance
through establishment of an innovative fund that targets progressive projects
with all the attributes for employment creation. UNDP will use its expertise in
financial inclusion program to support development of a loans package for
deserving groups and individuals.
-Initiate policy dialogue between the private sector,
government and development partners encouraging development of a conducive
policy, legal and regulatory framework.
-Explore the feasibility of establishing a safety net
programme and develop linkages with other social protection schemes to mitigate
the impact of natural disasters or other unforeseen crisis on the livelihood of
entrepreneurs and SMEs.
Project Location, Target Beneficiaries, and Identification
The project targets unemployed poor people, as individuals
and/or organized groups interested in market-oriented forestry-based
production, and related industries. The people category is defined to include
enterprising and unemployed/underemployed people, willing to participate and
with basic resources and skills to engage in similar projects, while youth
would be unemployed and underemployed youth with interest to start own
businesses. Specifically, youth graduates from agricultural colleges in the
country will be targeted to build the skills base and stronger mentorship
networks. Groups and organized production associations will be encouraged for
scale, peer support and ease of coordination. In both groups, the basic
requirement is interest and self-motivation to become part of the project. This
project is expected to support establishment and nurturing of at least 1, 000
enterprises, with average employment of 2 people each. This will be distributed
to include 70% poor people and 30% young men.
A three -pronged strategy will be used to identify
beneficiaries: NGOs and Ministry of Gender, Youth and Sports Affairs, as well
as other government programs that may be relevant in this project, will be
approached to advance existing groups that may be supported for expansion and
technical support, and new groups will be formulated based on demand or
potential for employment creation; an open call for participants and support
from the district councils in the target areas will also be used to attract new
entrants. All capacity building program will be offered by the project, while
participants will be required to demonstrate interest, commitment and basic
resources relevant to the project focus areas. Financial resources will be
availed per governing policy guidelines.
Bamboo Products
It seems like hundreds of products can be made from bamboo. From household items to the entire house, bamboo products are nothing new to society. Ancient civilizations were using bamboo for building long before they were using other materials and this trend has faded slightly over the centuries, but is now making a comeback in parts of the world, becoming a popular resource.
Numerous Products
Bamboo has been made into numerous products over the years. From raw products like bamboo charcoal or edible bamboo shoots, to finished pieces like furniture and instruments, there are many kinds of bamboo products out there. Whether they are made of raw or treated bamboo, they all seem to be used with more frequency now that we are re-discovering the versatility of the products. Some bamboo products include: Charcoal, Alcohol, and Bed sheets etc.
Cane
Cane is one of the important natural resources of Bangladesh
forests and homesteads. Production of cane in Bangladesh is now much lesser
than it used to be in the past. The household life in Bangladesh is marked by
diverse use of cane. Cane is useful in building traditional houses and is used
to manufacture goods of utility and in making diverse fancy articles of a
house. In Bangladesh, it is one of the most important raw materials for cottage
industries and also used for making furniture frames, walking sticks, umbrella
handles, baskets, handicrafts and various fancy articles. Cane furniture
adorned with creative design and artistry subtly bears testimony to the
glorious tradition of handmade artifacts in Bangladesh. Such furniture ranges
from dining tables to dressing tables or easy chairs to rocking chairs or from
dress hangers to shoe racks. Artisan’s gifted with artistic bent of mind employ
combination of manual and mental labor in making high quality cane furniture
like chairs, tables, sofa sets, book shelves, beds, corner shelves, partitions,
wardrobes, almirahs, showcases, plantation cases, glass frames, trays, trolleys
and show pieces.
Cane mostly trailing or climbing palms with characteristic
scaly fruits of the Aceraceae family (Palmae). The fruits are covered by
vertical rows of reflexed overlapping scales. The scales are grooved along the
midline. Cane, known in Bangla as bet, is also called rattan, an anglicized
version of the Malay word rotan. Cane grows in humid equatorial Africa and in
the areas extending from Indo-Bangladesh and South China to Queensland and
Fiji, and from sea level to 300 m altitude.
Canes propagate both by vegetative means and seeds. Suckers
are planted for vegetative propagation. For seed propagation seedlings are
raised in nurseries and then planted in fields. The fleshy pulp of the seed is
first removed and then the seeds are sown in seedbeds where they germinate
within a few weeks. When the seedlings attain a height of 0.75-1 m, they are
planted in fields during the monsoon season. By 2-3 years seedlings grow to the
size of a clump. Within 7-8 years the cane is ready for harvesting. Generally,
no intensive management is required. Irrigation, if
required, and fertilization are done at an early stage of plantation. Cane is
one of the important natural resources of Bangladesh forests and homesteads. It
is a raw material for cottage industries. Cane used to be exported from Bengal
until the mid-nineteenth century. The pulp of the fruit is edible. There are
600 cane species comprising 13 genera in the world. Out of the 13 genera only
two, Calamus and Daemonorops, grow in Bangladesh.
Cane products are in great demand throughout the world,
especially in Asia and Europe. Bangladesh exports considerable quantity of
assorted cane commodities to Russia, Germany, Singapore and the Middle East.
Bangladesh earned considerable goodwill in cane crafts through participation in
a number of international fairs held in Germany, Canada, Japan and some other
countries. In 1999-2000, Bangladesh earned Tk 258.6 million by exporting cane
and bamboo products.
Impacts on the Employment
Will he Create more Vacancy for New Employee?
For this project there will be create a new more vacancy for
the employee and they will be employed easily and the economic condition will
be changed. More new vacancy means more employment and more employment means
reduce the unemployed from a society.
Labor utilization and competitiveness
Collective agreements and unwritten workplace custom can
exert a considerable influence on patterns of labor utilization, and thus can favor
or hinder productivity growth. In the short-run, such practices may increase
employment, as indeed has sometimes been their purpose, but this is only
sustainable, in a competitive economy, in the medium term if those concerned
accept lower pay. Even this result may not be sustainable in the longer run as
new generations of skilled workers find the better pay of other firms more
attractive, so that the average quality of the workforce involved gradually
declines. In an economy in which adjustment costs are negligible, such a result
may
Employment security and job flexibility
One the biggest problems in achieving cooperative exchange
is reassuring workers that sharing information with management may threaten
their own jobs. Passing on ideas for more efficient practices, and helping
train fellow workers so that they can work more flexibly or undertake some
routine maintenance involve the surrender of a measure of individual bargaining
power, and may enable the employer to dispense with certain jobs. Workers may
take a long-term view of such issues if they believe they will still be
employed by the firm when the benefits start to accrue.
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