Industree Foundation signs MoU with Jharkhand State Livelihood Promotion Society (JSLPS) to enhance regenerative bamboo

VMPL

Ranchi (Jharkhand) [India], May 7: In a major step towards advancing regenerative, women-led livelihoods, Industree Foundation, a non-profit working at the intersection of equity, climate, and gender, signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with Jharkhand State Livelihood Promotion Society (JSLPS) in Ranchi, Jharkhand, on 4th May, 2026. This is a significant milestone in the Industree Foundation's mission and the government's strong commitment to fostering environmentally sustainable, women-led enterprises.

Industree Foundation has been working extensively to enable smallholder farmers, predominantly women, to cultivate bamboo on fallow and underutilised land.

Jharkhand State Livelihood Promotion Society (JSLPS), along with Industree Foundation as its technical and knowledge partner, will integrate 1,00,000 smallholder women farmers into the bamboo value chain over the next four years and further set up collective enterprises of women using bamboo. The initiative will begin with 10,000 smallholder women planting bamboo across 5 of the state's tribal districts this monsoon. This effort is part of the Bamboo Sub-Sector Initiative by the DAY-National Rural Livelihoods Mission (NRLM) under the Ministry of Rural Development, Government of India. It aims to empower one million rural women over the next 4-5 years through bamboo cultivation and improved market linkages.

This collaboration marks a convergence of Industree Foundation's ecosystem-led approach and JSLPS's institutional reach, reinforcing the government's commitment to fostering climate-resilient, income-generating livelihood systems for rural women.

The MoU was signed in the presence of Shri Bishnu C. Parida, COO, JSLPS, state officials, and Industree Foundation CEO, Shri Neju George Abraham and other representatives.

Commenting on this partnership, Neju George Abraham - CEO, Industree Foundation said, "Jharkhand represents a powerful convergence of intent, where government commitment, community potential, and ecological opportunity align. This partnership with JSLPS is not just about bamboo; it is about building a future where rural women are at the centre of India's green economy. Bamboo is one of nature's most regenerative resources, and in the hands of smallholder women farmers, it becomes something truly meaningful: a livelihood that grows stronger with every passing year, for decades. Across states, we are seeing that when women have access to the right tools, productive assets, and market access, they don't just sustain themselves; they transform their communities. Initiatives like the DAY-NRLM Bamboo Sub-Sector are proof that scale and sustainability are not in conflict. They are, in fact, each other's greatest enablers."

Industree Foundation, over the past few years, has been enabling smallholder farmers, a majority of whom are women, to cultivate bamboo on fallow and unutilized land, improving incomes and long-term livelihoods while addressing climate challenges. Women farmers cultivating bamboo can begin earning steady incomes from the fourth year of harvest, with yields continuing for over forty years, providing sustained, long-term financial security. Industree focuses on building traceable supply chains by taking a seed-to-market approach that caters to national and global demand.

Industree Foundation has previously signed MoUs with State Rural Livelihood Missions (SRLMs) in Andhra Pradesh, Arunachal Pradesh, Odisha, Telangana and Tripura, supporting small and marginal women farmers in adopting bamboo-based livelihoods at scale.

In a pioneering achievement, Industree Foundation has secured India's first FSC® Forest Management (FSC®-FM) certification for privately owned bamboo plantations. The FSC® label is the world's most trusted mark for sustainable forestry, and this certification opens global market opportunities for Indian manufacturers to source certified raw materials and supply compliant and traceable products to customers worldwide.

About Industree Foundation

Industree Foundation, established in 2000, is based in Bengaluru, Karnataka, and has been working to create an organised farm and off-farm enterprise ecosystem for women's economic empowerment in India and Ethiopia for over two decades. Industree, through an ecosystem approach, holistically tackles the root causes of poverty by enabling rural women from marginalised communities to set up collectively owned enterprises linked to the market. This has led to significant economic and social gains for women, substantially increasing incomes, social security, improved resilience to crisis, and positive climate action.

Industree incubates and supports farmer/producer collectives focusing on value addition at source and building traceable supply chains in agroforestry/ natural fibre value chains. Presently, Industree's value chain work focuses on Bamboo, Banana, and NTFP/biodegradable leaf plates aggregated into 44 collectives spread across Karnataka, Tamil Nadu, Odisha, and Maharashtra. These nature-based solutions promote biodiversity at source and sustainable use of local materials for high-level value addition linked to national and global demand.

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