A looming industry! Giant Bamboo Planting Spreads All Over Luzon

The new bamboo nursery in Cabagan, Isabela which now distributes Giant Bamboo Large Planting Materials (LPM) is overwhelmed by the huge demand from all over Luzon.

Engr. Edgar Pagulayan and his partner, Victor Calderon, both Isabela natives who established the Bamboo Valley Corp. nursery said the first batch of 4-month-old planting materials have all been bought.

The buyers are ordinary farmers who grouped themselves to be able to travel from as far as Pangasinan to get the planting materials in Cabagan.

Pagulayan said the buyers of planting materials were offereda marketing agreement where BVC will buy back the bamboo poles 3 to 5 years now.

BVC is establishing a Bamboo Processing Facility in Isabela which would produce high value bamboo products like tiles and laminated boards for export.

This will mark the birth of a new agro-industry in Luzon which would also mitigate flooding and cool down rising temperatures because of forest denudation.

While Luzon is not part of my area of responsibility, I am helping Vic Calderon and Egay Pagulayan, who are both my friends, by guiding them on how to establish a bamboo industry with a complete value chain just like what we are doing now in Mindanao.

#KungGustoMaramingParaan!

(Photos provided by Bamboo Valley Corp.)