Shillong, Aug. 14: The Meghalaya government has decided to frame a bamboo policy to tap the state’s rich bamboo resources.

Chief minister Donkupar Roy today released manuals in Khasi and Garo languages, urging farmers to take up largescale bamboo cultivation.

The manuals contain guidelines on the benefits of bamboo cultivation and its revenue aspect. Roy said the manuals would help villagers familiarise themselves with the nitty-gritties of bamboo cultivation and this would boost production.

Roy said the bamboo policy would act as a framework for tapping the bamboo resources and promote bamboo production.

He stressed on the need to promote bamboo cultivation in the state, as it would generate job opportunities.

The government will also establish a bamboo development agency to guide the cultivators, he added.

Roy urged officials of the state forest department to explore the options for marketing bamboo and its products to uplift the living conditions of villagers.

The chairman of state planning board, P.A. Sangma, who attended the programme, said the state government was thinking of setting up a bamboo technology park in East Garo Hills for bamboocraft products.

“The state government has accorded high priority to developing bamboo resources and the Centre is also promoting this sector,”Sangma said, adding that the people of the rural areas would benefit from the initiative.