Cotabato Bamboo Program Eyes P5.4-T World Market

As early as the time I served as Chairman of the Mindanao Development Authority (MinDA), I had included my home province, North Cotabato, as one of the critical areas to be included in the Mindanao Bamboo Industry Development Program.
The program aimed to establish Giant Bamboo Production in 5,000 hectares of Tribal Ancestral Lands to address poverty in IP communities, re-green the province’s denuded mountains, provide jobs while earning revenues for the provincial government under an Economic Enterprise Program.
Following my departure from MinDA in October 2021, however, the program was shelved and Mindanao’s Bamboo Industry Development was left to the private sector.
As I prepare to return to government service as Governor of North Cotabato, I decided to revive the Bamboo Industry Development Program Blueprint as part of my advocacy for a Green Economy, to include the massive planting of Fruit Trees, Rubber Trees and other industrial tree species.
The Cotabato Green Economy Program will include the establishment of processing facilities to produce Engineered Bamboo, processed fruits and veneer and plywood for domestic and export markets.
The North Cotabato model will involve the identification of individual landowners and Ancestral Domain stakeholders who will receive financial incentives for every clump of bamboo or tree that they plant and nurture.
The stakeholders will be organized into associations or cooperatives which will receive free planting materials from the Provincial Government which will be given out for free.
This is a long term program which is part of my Green Philippines Advocacy and considering my age now, I may not live long enough to witness the massive economic impact to be felt by my people.
This will not, however, stop me from planning, implementing and pursuing it because I believe that the Greening of our communities, along with Food Security Program, is an inter-generational endeavor.
Everything is about the future generation of Filipinos which would include my grandchildren and their children.
#InterGenerationalResponsibility!
#GreenCotabatoProgram!