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PamCham's Bamboo Planting |
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Written by Joyce Duldulao
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Saturday, 06 June 2009 |
 PamCham’s Bamboo Propagation committee headed by Chairperson Myrna Bituin spearheaded a bamboo planting project at the Techno Resource Center (TRC) in Barangay Paraluyan, Mabalacat, Pampanga last June 5, 2009 at 4 pm. Other industry associations like the Chamber of Furniture Industries of Pampanga (CFIP), Philexport R3 along with the DTI, DOST and Pampanga Agricultural College (PAC) also planted bamboo seedlings which will kick off a regional and province wide bamboo propagation and product development awareness program. Before the end of the year, PamCham’s Bamboo Propagation committee intends to conduct a bamboo show where products made out of bamboo will be showcased and sold in the local market.
The Bamboo Propagation committee’s approach to the project is holistic. Farmers shall be taught the proper management of bamboo clumps - from seedling propagation, transplanting of new shoots to allow for quality sized trunks and proper harvesting methods. Farmers will also be made to realize the cash crop potential of bamboo which shall be the central objective of the project. According to chairperson Myrna Bituin, farmers and their families -along with the surrounding communities should be the primary beneficiaries of the bamboo program.There is also the livelihood component of the project which the various products manufactured out of bamboo raw materials can generate– from furnitures, decors, medicines, linens and other potential by products of this so-called grass of life.
Another component of the project - product development is also critical. The advocacy should not end with bamboo planting and management, there should also be intense research and development on the potentials of bamboo as raw materials for other end products. China had successfully generated medicines and even quality textile made out of bamboo which commands exceedingly high prices in the global market.
Environmentally, bamboo is given high carbon credits for its massive carbon dioxide sequestration capability. In fact, research shows that bamboo “aids in soil conservation by checking on erosion, making it excellent vegetative cover for stream banks and sloping areas. Relative to this, the committee already proposed to Mayor Oscar Rodriguez of the City of San Fernando to initiate planting of bamboos along the megadike particularly in the dumpsite area intended to rehabilitate the soil and also provide support to the embankment.
Furthermore, chairperson Bituin also proposed to the SCADC (Subic Clark Alliance for Development Council - headed by Sec. Ed Pamintuan that a portion along the SCTEx should also be planted with bamboos to aid in product propagation and environment protection. There is also the added agri and eco-tourism potential of a picturesque sea of bamboos interspersed along the internationally acclaimed highway.
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