It’s a long leap of faith. Bamboo growers and businesses in Laguna are confident they can pole vault over the challenges.
That starts with the establishment of a Laguna Bamboo Industry Development Council proposed by Dr. Florentino O. Tesoro, chair of the industry group Bamboo Professionals, during a forum organized by the Forest Products Research and Development Institute (FPRDI) recently.
The forum — attended by 28 bamboo enterprises and 70 representatives from local governments, as well as bamboo growers, manufacturers, artisans and traders in Laguna — sought ways to strengthen the province’s bamboo industry.
“There are 95 bamboo-based businesses in the province,” said Romulo T. Aggangan, FPRDI director. “This number alone suggests how much potential the province has in terms of developing its bamboo industry.”
The FPRDI has an ongoing P2.1-million research project to map out the industry and analyze the constraints facing different bamboo stakeholders — from farmers and suppliers, to the market and end users.
The project has so far looked at the current status and prospects of each bamboo enterprise, and consequently identified firm-level and industry-wide interventions based on their needs.
Led by Dr. Ma. Cecile Zamora and Dr. Carl Anthony Lantican, it is funded by the Philippine Council for Agriculture, Aquatic and Natural Resources Research and Development (PCAARRD).
PCAARRD estimates that with some 53,000 hectares of bamboo stands, the Philippines is the world’s sixth largest exporter of bamboo.
These are not commercial farms but rather backyard, riverbank and forest stands. Still, PCAARRD estimates that the potential production from these stands averages about 36 million culms a year.
There are many challenges to the bamboo industry: pests and diseases; low supply of bamboo raw materials, quality poles and planting materials; low survival rate for propagation; limited technology for shoot production and marketing strategies; high cost of processed products; and weak transfer of technology.
PCAARRD recommends incentives for value-adding activities to fully develop the bamboo value chain. Pests and diseases of bamboo stands should be managed. There is a need to develop new products such as high-quality charcoal, textile, nano crystalline cellulose; and processed bamboo shoots.
According to the Philippine Bamboo Industry Development Council (PBIDC), the Philippines now has an estimated bamboo area of around 104,000 hectares. It generates a value of $60 million yearly.
The PBIDC believes that with 5.59 million hectares of arable land, the Philippines can expand its bamboo area to 400,000 hectares. That can yield a whopping $3 billion (P150 billion) and employ one million, it said.
Its value goes beyond money. Bamboo sequesters 12 metric tons of carbon per hectare annually, more than other plants. It releases 35 percent more oxygen than other trees.
Bamboo is a non-timber forest product, belonging to the family of grasses. It is a high-value crop used as food and as material for buildings, bridges and furniture.
September 18 is World Bamboo Day.
The FPRDI and PCAARRD are agencies of the Department of Science and Technology.
