MANILA, Philippines – Interested in going into a bamboo-based business venture? Now, you have places to go for affordable but quality planting materials of different bamboo varieties.
Five nurseries for this purpose have been set up under a government project titled “Package of ERDB S&T Interventions on Nursery Establishment and Propagation of Commercial and Ornamental Bamboo Species”.
The project is spearheaded by the Department of Environment and Natural Resources-Ecosystems Research and Development Bureau (DENR-ERDB) and Department of Science and Technology-Philippine Council for Agriculture, Forestry and Natural Resources Research and Development (DOST-PCARRD).
The project team is led by ERDB science research specialist Paulino Umali Jr. Members are botanist Cristina Roxas and forester Lucas Gonzales.
ERDB told The STAR that bamboo nurseries have been set up in Mangatarem, Pangasinan; Magalang, Pampanga; Lipa City, Batangas; Los Baños and Nagcarlan, both in Laguna. Another nursery is planned to be put in Kawit, Cavite.
One farmer-cooperator was chosen in each site.
“Through this project, we are teaching farmers the effective and efficient techniques in bamboo propagation which ERDB has developed through research. One of our goals is to help them establish nurseries that sell cheap but quality planting materials of commercial and ornamental varieties of bamboo,” Umali said.
Propagation activities in the Pangasinan and Pampanga sites are going on. The propagules to be made available are ornamental varieties such as Chinese Goddess, variegated, wamin, dwarf, hedge, black, and yellow bamboos; and yellow buho.
“The nurseries that we are developing will sell not only ornamental bamboo varieties for landscaping but also those used for commercial purposes and plantation establishment. These varieties include kawayan tinik, giant bamboo, and machiku,” Umali said.
The project will also establish linkages between suppliers and buyers of the planting stocks to make sure that investors in bamboo nurseries will have markets to sell their produce. At the same time, buyers will be directed to nurseries that sell inexpensive but quality bamboo propagules.
Bamboo has a wide range of uses, among them for furniture, handicraft, coinstruction, and landscaping parks and lawns. Its edible shoots are marketed here and abroad.
Bamboo is also a good reforestation species because its roots can control soil erosion and, like trees, it can absorb large amounts of carbon dioxide from the atmosphere.