I thought one of the biggest use case for bamboo was to replace plastic in everyday items like toothbrushes, combs, etc. But when I met Agni from @Amwoodo, I was surprised to learn that bamboo has a higher tensile strength than steel.

Of course, this doesn’t mean, you can replace steel with bamboo, but a lot of use cases open up where you can reduce the use of steel and augment it with bamboo.

The other advantage of bamboo is that it can potentially help with land degradation, which is a major problem in India. Whenever I’m flying, I look at empty stretches of land and wonder, why don’t landowners plant something that could generate some income?

Bamboo can apparently rejuvenate barren lands, repair damaged soil, and reduce erosion. It also doesn’t need a lot of water, fertilizer, or chemicals to grow. That means people with barren lands and not a whole lot of money can at least make some income by cultivating bamboo

BTW, India is one of the largest importers of bamboo—we import it from China and Vietnam. Given that supporting people who can create livelihoods is one of the biggest objectives behind @Rainmatterin and @Rainmatterorg, we are super excited to join Amwoodo in this journey as they try to create value in India for Indians.

They are already working with over 300 farmers to source bamboo, 300 more artisans, and they have helped restore 674 acres of barren land with bamboo plantations across the Northeast and West Bengal.

Here’s a brief introduction to Amwoodo.

Here’s an insightful discussion around my naive question about empty lands.

Go to link →