Bamboo Industry! “Walang Magtatatanim Kung Walang Kikitain!”

To succeed in convincing people in the countryside to plant bamboos, there must be a roadmap which ends with the processing and marketing of bamboo products making it a profitable agricultural undertaking.
This was the message of my presentation, “Building A Bamboo Production Cluster,” during the 1st Philippine Bamboo Summit yesterday at the Parks and Wildlife Center in Quezon City where I emphasized that for the Bamboo Program of the country to succeed, there must be economic rewards for the farmers.
This has always been the problem with our agricultural programs in the country where new products are introduced or farmers are urged to produce without an assurance of a reliable market with a stable price.
In the “Building A Bamboo Production Cluster” concept which I designed, the Bamboo programs could be initiated by either the Local Government Units (LGUs) or farmers associations or cooperatives.
Each Bamboo Cluster must have a planted area of at least 1,000 which could produce enough poles after 5 to 6 years to supply a processing facility which would turn these into engineered bamboo materials.
This is the only way to ensure the success of the Bamboo Program which, if implemented well, will not only contribute to the prevention of soil erosion and the greening of the denuded mountains, but also create a billion peso industry which would provide jobs and income opportunities to people in the countryside.
The market for the farmers produce must be assured, otherwise the Bamboo Program will suffer the same fate of other high-profile programs of government.
Sa umpisa lang maingay, panay ang meeting at seminars, pagkatapos hindi ituturo kung saan ibebenta ang produkto.
#MarketKeyToSuccess!
#GovernanceIsCommonSense!