CANDELARIA, QUEZON – A bamboo nursery and propagation was launched in Bgy. Masalukot 2 Friday in a bid to alleviate poverty and enhance livelihood opportunities of residents here.
Ed Manda, presidential adviser of region 4-A and 4-B and Dr. Romualdo Sta. Ana, president of the Phil. Bamboo Foundation Inc. personally came on Friday for the 2-day seminar-workshop on the so-called “poor man’s lumber” which saw the participation of farmers from various towns of the province’ 2nd District.
Manda said Rizal, Laguna, Quezon and Cavite are the identified areas for the propagation of the bamboo whose technology must be adopted and studied by the farmers to improve their lot.
2nd District Cong. Procy Alcala, who invited Manda and Sta. Ana to give a lecture on the first day of the seminar, said he sees the vast potential of the bamboo here for propagation, processing and marketing to other countries especially China and Japan.
Alcala, who vowed logistical support for the bamboo planters, prodded the participants to learn the technology and nurture the bamboo industry to be competitive in the world market especially China, Japan and Europe.
Barangay Chairman Federico Tesico lamented that the bamboo in their barangay is not being promoted such that a bamboo pole here only fetches P20 each and laborers who transport and work for the bamboo earn more income than the planter and owner of bamboos.
Sta. Ana, a bamboo expert who was said to be discovered by First Gentleman Mike Arroyo and Manda during a Southeast Asian Games Competiton in China, said that a hectare of 225 bamboo stems planted 7 meters apart would yield for the farmer P174,375 a year.
Saying that bamboo is an important vehicle for poverty alleviation and an ideal vehicle to realize the country’s Millennium Development Goals Sta. Ana claims that a village in China which is engaged in making bamboo baskets earn as much as $150 million a year.
He showed the many benefits and uses derived from bamboo such as housing and construction materials, food from bamboo shoots, medicines and wine (beer) from its leaves, furniture and other bamboo crafts, musical instruments, kitchen wares and protection from soil erosion when planted on river banks.
Digno Garcia, a lecturer from the Ecosystem Research and Development Bureau of the DENR at UP-Los Baños in Laguna, said there are 70 bamboo species in the Philippines such as kawayan-tinik, kawayan-kiling, bayog, buho, giant bamboo, yellow buho, bikal, anos, among others.
Sta. Ana and Garcia who conducted their lecture with the aid of Power Point presentation, showed that the world trade on bamboo and bamboo products is estimated at $14 billion and that the Chamber of Furniture Industries of the Philippines needs 1.5 million poles this year and the demand will increase by 1.8 million poles a year. (JOHN BELLO)
hi. im planning to buy bamboo dendrocalamus giganteus online on ebay. what are the requirements to import it here? thanks
Currently looking for bamboo supplier in the Philippines! (Bamboo farm) Please send me an email glenn.watermarkinternational@asia.com .
April 12, 2010
Dear Sir/Ma’am,
Good day!
I and my teammates are from Medium And small-scale Industries Coordinated Action Program II (MASICAP II) MSME Development Foundation, Inc. housed and partnered with the Department of Trade and Industry – National Economic Research and Business Assistance Center (DTI – NERBAC), General Santos City.
We are making project industries such as project briefs, business plan and other relevant documents for the benefit of the MSMEs in the region that were identified by the Department of Trade and Industry, one of which is the Bamboo Nursery. Since your company is into this venture and seeing the gradual success of your venture, we are asking you to feed as data specially on the technicalities of establishing a bamboo nursery. This will be a a great contribution to the community.
Moreover, this is to inform you that we have already made many project industries in the region for potentials investors. These are posted in the DTI’s website http//sites.google.com/a/dti12.org/sites/; If you are interested and want to see the potential projects in region 12, you may just visit the above website for your reference.
Thank you and more power!
AIZA MELORIN CADAVOS
MASICAP2 DTI NERBAC 12
hi! i would just like to ask why, as many say, Bamboo is the fastest growing grass. what is in the bamboo which makes it absorb more carbon dioxide?
hi! may we know how can we get in touch with the community engaged in the nursery management? we have visitors from India this sept 24-26 and one of their interest is to visit bamboo plantations and bamboo crafts.