3,000 hectares slated as bamboo forests in Luzon

BY Dexter A. See

BAGUIO CITY – A total of 3,000 hectares of barren mountains in Northern and Central Luzon will be converted into bamboo forests  in less than one year once the Philippine Bamboo Foundation (PBF) and its partners will be able to complete the production and planting of enough bamboo seedlings for the project.

           

Edgardo Manda, PBF president, said the widest bamboo plantation will be located in Fort Magsaysay, Nueva Ecija with a total area of more than 2,500 hectares; Ambassador, Tublay, Benguet – 100 hectares; 80 hectares each in La Union, Ambuclao, Bokod, Binga, Tinongdan, Itogon and Kapangan, Benguet and another 50 hectares in Baguio City.

           

Aside from providing sufficient forest cover and soil erosion control, we want our bamboo plantations to be a descent source of livelihood and food for the host communities,” Manda said, citing that if the people will be able to strictly follow the techniques in the planting and harvesting of bamboo, the plantations could last up to more than 100 years.

           

According to him, the phyllostachysaurea variety of bamboo has been identified by experts to thrive best in the Cordillera mountain ranges and could serve its purpose in just seven months to one year, thus, the need to massively propagate the variety which could be used as a good tree planting material in the coming rain season.

           

“We have already established nurseries to propagate enough number of bamboo seedlings which will be planted to realize the reforestation of the identified critical watersheds,” he said, noting that at least 700 seedlings is required to reforest one hectare of barren mountain so that it will effectively grow.

           

Manda explained people living near the bamboo plantations could derive their food by harvesting the bamboo shoots for their food and utilize the poles for their respective bamboo craft in order to generate income for their families.

           

The bamboo forest project in Benguet is in cooperation with the office of Benguet Rep. Ronald M. Cosalan, who earlier earmarked P2 million from his Priority Development Assistance Fund (PDAF) to ensure the successful implementation of the project in the province, SN Aboitiz Power Corporation – Benguet in order to ensure the prevention of soil erosion within the Ambuclao and Binga dams and the hydro power plant developers in Kapangan town to enhance the watershed cover and ensure the availability of abundant water to run the turbines of the plant.

           

Manda added the establishment of a bamboo forest in La Union is in cooperation with Holsim Philippines while the Fort Magsaysay bamboo forest is with the cooperation of the Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP).

           

Apart from its multiple uses, Manda claimed bamboo has higher carbon sequestration properties equivalent to 35 percent more than the carbon sequestration of pine and assorted trees, thus, the need to propagate and plant bamboo seedlings instead of assorted trees that take a longer period to grow.

           

The PBF official said more bamboo poles will also be made available to bamboo carvers who now shifted to the lucrative trade and abandon wood carving because of the non-availability of wood products as a result of the total ban on the cutting of trees in the country’s natural forests.

           

Although bamboo carving is much expensive and difficult to undertake, Manda said around 50 families in Barangay Asin, Baguio City have already organized themselves into a formidable group that will produce international caliber bamboo carvings which will be sold worldwide to help them recover from the slump that affected their source of livelihood after the national government started implementing the total ban on the cutting of trees in the natural forests that serve as the source of wood for their own trade.

           

The members of the Asin Bamboo Carvers Guild are now undergoing trainings on how to sustain the quality of their bamboo carving products so that they will be able to invade the lucrative market of specialized bamboo crafts and they will be able to maintain the pricing that will help them earn sufficient income to sustain the living condition of their families.