Pine Needle Handicrafts will empower Women, Prevent Forest Fires, and Promise a Sustainable Livelihood...It needs to be promoted in a mission mode in Himachal Pradesh.
Shimla: Handicrafts made from pine needles are doing more than just providing income for village women—they are a promising solution for preventing forest fires in pine jungles.
If scaled up as a widespread mission, this craft could not only become a lucrative source of income but also significantly reduce forest fire hazards across pine-rich regions.
If one goes by the scale of destruction of forests due to forest fires flared up by dry pine needles on the forest flour, we can say that the pine needles need to be collected every year not only for handicrafts but also for use in agriculture.
A four-day skill-building workshop on crafting pine needle handicrafts recently concluded at the Science Teaching and Creativity Centre in Shoghi, Shimla, from October 25-28, 2024.
The workshop was organized by the Environment Information Awareness Capacity Program - PC Hub (EIACP-PC Hub) under the Himachal Pradesh Council for Science, Technology, and Environment (HIMCOSTE).
The purpose of the workshop was to train a group of 13 women from Tingrit Village Panchayat in Lahaul-Spiti district in crafting pine needle products that could serve as a sustainable income source.
The training was conducted under the guidance of Dr. Suresh C. Atri, Joint Member Secretary of HIMCOSTE, and Program Coordinator Priyanka Sharma.
The women learned to make a variety of items, including table mats, coasters, baskets, vases, and trays—all crafted from the pine needles that frequently cause forest fires in the region.
"We see an opportunity not only in crafting but in marketing," said Priyanka Sharma.
The Himbumail believes that market linkages with hotels, bus and railway stations, and corporate snd government offices could turn this craft into a significant revenue stream.
Such training workshops should travel down to the Panchayat level all across Himachal to make pine needle handicrafts a new mission.
Anjana Devi from the Jagriti Self-Help Group in Kandaghat, Solan, led the hands-on training, sharing her expertise and enthusiasm for pine needle crafting.
"Pine needle handicrafts are not just economical and natural but rooted in tradition," she said, encouraging the trainees to look beyond the workshop and pursue potential partnerships.
Partnerships with tourist hubs and offices could not only boost income but also increase visibility for this unique, eco-friendly craft.
Apart from providing sustainable income, this initiative has another crucial benefit: wildfire prevention. Collecting pine needles, which are highly flammable, reduces the risk of forest fires in pine-dense areas.
There is also hope that the forest department will support this effort by purchasing handicrafts from these women, creating an economic and environmental win-win.
The EIACP-PC Hub team, including Ajay Panwar, Ritvik Chauhan, and Jai Priya, contributed to the workshop’s success. Certificates were awarded to the participants.
For these newly skilled women artisans, pine needle crafts are now a path to resilience and opportunity, a sustainable livelihood that holds promise far beyond the workshop, embodying both economic potential and environmental care.
COMMENTS:
During my tenure as Director GHNP , I have trained hundreds of ladies in this field through trained artisans. In GHNP we have two kinds of group, one for ladies and one for gents. Ladies group are doing very good job in this field-
(BS RANA, EX-DIRECTOR, GREAT HIMALAYAN NATIONAL PARK, KULLU)
