Villagers of Dungmin and Chimoong Gewogs in Pema Gatshel now know how to improve their bamboo products and also generate income from it. Villagers owe this to Tarayana Foundation, a civil society organisation that recently trained a group of artisans.
The training was emphasized on enhancing capacity of artisans in diversification, dyeing and refining their bamboo products in accordance with the market demand.
“Before we started this training, we had the market research in Thimphu. We found that bamboo products have huge market. But the problem is it lacks quality and design,” said Programme Officer, Tarayana Foundation, Wangmo.
Villagers are indebted to the foundation for training them. They are now looking forward to improving their bamboo products.
“We did get such type of training or ideas before. We are interested to attend such training. By marketing improved products, we hope our socio-economic conditions will improve,” said one of the participants, Sangay Norbu.
Participants will return to their respective villages, work in groups, and weave various bamboo products. They will be put up on sale during the soon-to-be held Tarayana Fair in the capital.
“So far what we have found is that, the rural artisans they cannot come to the market themselves. As such the middleman enters in and takes most of the profits. To avoid this, they can make direct link with the customers and can sell products directly. Then they can earn more profits,” said the Tarayana Foundation’s Programme Officer, Wangmo.
Previously, villagers of Dungmin and Chimoong Gewogs used to weave bamboo and cane products only for domestic purposes.
About 15 participants took part in the two-week long training conducted with financial assistance from the Asian Development Bank.
