Bright future ahead for bamboo growers

by Tran Quynh Hoa

Growing bamboo has helped disabled Kim Qui Duong in Huong Son Commune in the northern province of Vinh Phuc escape poverty. — VNA/VNS Photo Dinh Na

Addressing the conference on Emerging Trends for the Bamboo Industry, Deputy Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development Ho Xuan Hung said the use of bamboo was low despite the fact that it accounted for 15 per cent of the country's natural forest area.

According to the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development (MARD), only 35 to 40 per cent of the estimated 1.4 million hectares of bamboo was used.

"The yearly export value of bamboo is now US$280 million, tiny compared to the potential recognised internationally," said Hung.

The event was organ-ised by Winrock International through the USAID-supported Asia Regional Biodiversity Conservation Programme (ARBCP) in partnership with MARD.

Hung said the lack of exploitation could be blamed on lack of technology and inadequate processing skills.

Vietnamese bamboo products were mostly made in a rudimental way, he said.

Bamboo goes straight from farmers to producers, causing a huge waste of much of the trees, according to Ngo Viet Hung of Mekong Bamboo.

He said that in China, bamboo must go through preliminary treatment in which different parts of the trees were separated and prepared differently for different production purposes.

Ngo Viet Hung is a representative of a project inspired by the potential for bamboo to link poor upland communities to global high value markets.

Deputy Minister Hung said it was a big mistake that no specific policies for bamboo had ever been developed.

"The country was once so proud of its bamboo, long been a symbol of Viet Nam to the world, but sadly that pride is fading away. The stature of Vietnamese bamboo continues to decline not only internationally but also in the domestic market." he said.

Meanwhile, experts said bamboo had many overwhelming values compared to other types of wood.

It possessed huge economic potential, said Dr John Marsh, head of the Mekong Bamboo team, adding that the bamboo global trade was about $12 billion in 2009.

"That is similar to bananas and American beef," said Dr Lou Yiting, director of an environmental sustainability programme run by the International Network for Bamboo and Rattan (INBAR).

Chen Yunhua, a Chinese master of bamboo art and a successful bamboo businessman, said that if bamboo was well processed, it could become more valuable than gold.

China, for instance, earned a yearly value of about $10.76 billion from its bamboo industry although it only started three decades ago, said Professor Zhu Zhaohua, one of his country's leading bamboo experts.

Together with the rapid increase of bamboo plantation areas, the export value of Chinese bamboo products, such as bamboo flooring, decorative boards, laminated furniture, fibre products, handicrafts, charcoal and edible shoots soared from $0.17 billion in 1990 to $1.77 billion last year, he said.

In Viet Nam, up to 63 per cent of timber demand is now met by imports, equal to 5.3 million cubic metres, according to Marsh.

Dang Cong Hao from the HCM City-based Grass Company said the furniture market was huge and that "bamboo was the future of wood".

Bamboo could be used to make fine curved products, a feat much more difficult to achieve with wood, he said.

"Bamboo can also be used to produce a wide variety of products and offers income generating opportunities to many rural poor," said Dr Yiping.

According to bamboo expert Nigel Smith, growing bamboo is time and cost effective as it takes only about three years to grow,

From an environmental perspective, bamboo also has many advantages over other types of trees. "Bamboo could make a significant contribution to rehabilitating waste and degraded land," said Dr Yiping, who suggested using bamboo to combat land degradation over wide areas.

"It is an ideal plant for preventing erosion as it grows and spreads quickly to form a network of roots."

He said bamboo also helped filter water, and help in nature conservation and biodiversity. And as a prolific plant, it captured much carbon and could be used to cope with climate change.

Meanwhile, Hao said demand for ecological products had increased: "Our clients are willing to pay up to 15 per cent premium on eco versus normal products."

Deputy minister Hung said developing the bamboo industry would definitely help reduce poverty in rural and mountainous areas where a lot of ethnic minority people lived.

Farmer Ha Van Nghia from Dai Te District, Lam Dong Province said he expected good profits from the bamboo areas he had been planting for more than one year, using bamboo seed and technical support provided by Winrock International.

Nghia's family is a beneficiary of a project encouraging 50 households in An Nhon and Huong Lam communes to plant 30ha of a biodiversity-friendly bamboo species as a pilot for the provincial 1,000-ha programme.

Lam Dong Province, one of the 10 provinces with the largest area of bamboo forests, is also working to develop a bamboo sector development master plan with support from the MARD as part of their economic development strategy.

On a wider scale, MARD is preparing a national conference on bamboo in October to discuss a national strategy for the product. Deputy Minister Hung said it would include establishing policies for farm land, application of science and technologies, human resources, finance and credit, trade promotion, product standards and research.

"Viet Nam's countryside once had a special attachment to bamboo. Thus in the process of building new rural areas, bamboo will surely make the face of the modern countryside better," said Hung. — VNS