At an international workshop here on wednesday, chief minister Naveen Patnaik said, Orissa has taken appropriate initiatives to integrate development of the bamboo sector with overall socio-economic uplift of people. He called for cultivation of commercially important species along with suitable machinery for mass production of value addition products not only to meet local needs but for the export market. Experts at the meet agreed that the state has a great potential. From 1980-2002 annually, the forest Departments extracted 2.47-lakh tonnes bamboo and realized annual revenue of Rs. 6 crores. A conservative estimate says that Orissa should be harvesting a surplus of two lakhs tonnes of bamboo every year.

Research work by institutes such as Indian Plywood Industries Research and Training Institutes (IPRITI), centre for Indian Bamboo Resources and Tecnology (CIBRT) shows bamboo every can alleviate poverty in the state.
Indira Khurana of CIBRT says," According tto a market assessment report we prepared, the total market opportunity for various segments is Rs. 606 crore with raw bamboo requirement of 645,000 tonne over a period of five years Orissa should utilize the resources."
Bamboo shoot, she said, is a highly sought after delicacy and the export potential stands at Rs. 3,600 crore. Part of this export market can be met from Orissa, she added.Director, IPIRTI S.K. Nath also spoke. The workshop, jointly organized by International Network for Bamboos and Rattan (INBR), IPIRTI. Bangalore, Ministry of Environment and Forest Department, was inaugurated by the Chief Minister.