The Mystery of the Elegant
Grass
Bamboo Demystified
By Njenga
Hakeenah
14th January 2014
Bamboo used to be commonly
referred to as the poor man's timber.
However research and demand
for bamboo products is defying this tag in an era of technology and
civilization.
As demand for wood surges,
several bamboo species are now being used for different purposes ranging from
furniture to land reclamation.
Bamboo has been in very
high demand in Asia where it is common in rafting but now this grass is being
used the world over.
Yellow bamboo (Bambusa
vulgaris) is mostly used for ornamental purposes while the
giant bamboo (Dendrocalamus giganteus) is used in building,
for food and furniture making. The edible bamboo shoots have become a delicacy
in several fine-dining establishments especially those that cater to those with
oriental preferences.
In Kenya, the major uses
are on river beds for soil conservation especially in areas where surface
runoff threatens soil health.
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| A farmer explains about the Giant Bamboo in Njoro town, Nakuru County Photo: Njenga Hakeenah |
The country has been
experiencing a boom in the need for timber as the construction industry
expands. This has left most lands denuded as forests are cleared for wood and
cultivation.
The fast growing giant
bamboo can be used as an alternative source of fuel and timber in the country.
However, its production has been limited as it requires expansive swathes of
land to be commercially viable.
Bamboo in Kenya
In Kenya there are several types of bamboo with
the most common being Arundinaria alpina which is restricted to the highlands above 2,000 meters above sea
level.
A defunct project in Thika
focused on the yellow bamboo and the giant bamboo and the project
ostensibly failed because large tracts of land would be needed to commercially
grow the giant bamboo. This is beside the fact that most forest land has been
deforested and the rehabilitation of water towers like the Mau and Mt. Kenya
forests have not incorporated the giant bamboo.
The Kenya Forestry Research
Institute (KEFRI) is growing several edible bamboo species shoots, as they
are high in trace elements and vitamins but low in carbohydrates, fat and
protein.
There is also a new venture
in bamboo clothing as it is durable and the target is a
self-sustaining clothes line with bamboo as the raw material and with
products ranging from bags, shoes, curtains, carpets and many more to create
job opportunities and self-sustenance for several
families.
A range
of bamboo products are locally available and which are of a very high
quality.
The World Agroforestry
Centre (ICRAF) has trained local artisans to
make bamboo furniture. Among these was the Undugu
Society which deals with accommodating and rehabilitating street
children.
The products were made
under the tutelage of Wayan Neka, an Indonesian, who
taught artisans from Kenya, Tanzania and Uganda to
make high quality bamboo products.
However, the limitation of
land meant that the project could not go forward but the knowledge transferred
continues to work today.
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| A Giant Bamboo plant Photo: Njenga Hakeenah |
Margaret Oluoch, author of “Putting Science into Practice”, is one beneficiary who learned from Dr. Chin Ong who was in charge
of the project at ICRAF. She founded Smejak, an organization dealing with
conservation in agriculture.
Margaret has managed to
apply the science and replicate it in her rural home in Kisumu to rehabilitate
a river and also for fruit production on her farm in Kisumu. She says, “It came
to me as a surprise that we can restore our land using resources we already
have as we do not need to search for seeds. For instance, if I have to plant
croton, I just need to collect the seeds and in due time they will germinate
and be ready for transplanting.”
Margaret adds that science
was so much in the books but it was not being implemented through application.
She is working to rehabilitate the Oroba River through the Friends of Oroba
River initiative bringing the community together harnessing the resources and
reclaiming them.
She uses the knowledge to
teach community members on how to rehabilitate the environment and reap
benefits while at it.
For the environment
conservationists, advocating the use of Bamboo for its products will help
not only in conserving nature but also addressing the emotive climate change
issue.
Giant bamboo is
one of the best sources of the demanded building materials that are
sustainable, and unlike the other trees, it grows at very high rate (three
times faster than eucalyptus!) and matures in only three years. The towering
plant can grow to a height of a hundred feet.
Some species have a great
tensile strength rivaling that of steel and a weight-to-strength surpassing
that of graphite (with some supporting 50,000 per square inch!). In Asia, it
has for long been used to reinforce concrete and as scaffolding material on
skyscrapers of thousands of feet high.
As a source of food, edible
species of bamboo are being used extensively in Asia with
the world consuming an estimated two million tonnes a year. Europe and North America are importing over a hundred
and thirty tonnes a year!
This means
that bamboo is more than an income generating venture which calls for
an investment in the field.
Bamboo has several
advantages, the major one being as a source of timber as it is
self-replenishing, resilient and easy to maintain.
Another reason
why bamboo is preferred to other trees is that it creates a source of
income generation which is manageable to many people especially those in low
income groups who cannot afford a high capital to start their sources of livelihood.
Environmentally and most
importantly, bamboo does not consume a lot of water. It can be grown in
all areas from sea level to the highlands and it also has excellent
hydrological properties in terms of high infiltration rates and low erosion rates
compared to other types of land use.
Bamboo is very
effective in soil erosion control as its rhizomes are very good in holding
surface runoff thus it can be used to curb the problem of silting and
sedimentation in rivers and lakes which is a problem on the headwaters, especially
the Tana river which has as much as five litres of top soil per cubic
meter of water flowing into the Indian ocean.
Bamboo is also very
important in balancing oxygen and carbon dioxide in the atmosphere with some
species sequestering up to twelve tonnes of carbon dioxide from the air per
square hectare and is also the fastest growing canopy for the re-greening of
degraded areas.
The bamboo plant
is known to absorb heavy metals from water bodies thus can be very effective in
sewage cleansing and can be planted along river banks for the same purposes.
As a source of fuel, it
produces 7000
kilocalories (half the
calories of petroleum) and also as a source of firewood and charcoal it is
very good owing to its high biomass production statistics per hectare.
Bamboo is also being
used in the manufacture of parquets which is a direction away from the
tradition of boards being made from other trees like the eucalypts, mahogany
and many more.
The market response in
Europe and North America has been described as ‘very good’ where a square meter
of the board is retailing at a range of between eighty and a hundred dollars.
