Bamboo Demystified

The Mystery of the Elegant Grass

Bamboo Demystified

By Njenga Hakeenah

14^th 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.

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.

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.