MinDA Bamboo Program!
MINDANAO BAMBOO GETS ICC,
GAINS ENTRY TO U.S., VIETNAM
Malaybalay City, Bukidnon - The nascent Mindanao bamboo of industry received a big boost recently with the issuance of an International Commodity Certification by the United States of America which would allow bamboo from the south to be used in American housing projects.
Bukidnon Giant Bamboo Resources Corp. Chairman Rod Bioco said the demand for bamboo materials for housing is so huge that an American constructtion outlet needs a supply of 3,000 containers per month for all of its branches all over the U.S.
Bioco said that while Mindanao could not supply the huge demand of the market, it has a potential of producing that much requirements provided there is a focused effort to develop the Mindanao Bamboo Industry. The Mindanao Development Authority (MinDA) considers this as a major economic and environmental breakthrough for Mindanao.
With a total land area of 9.7-million hectares, two-thirds of which are high-elevation and often logged-over and former mining areas, Mindanao could plant as much as 1-million hectares of aggregate areas, including those in critical watersheds and headwaters.
Given the estimated net income for the farmers of P100,000 per hectare, this could be translated to a net earnings of about P100-B every year going to the poorest sector of Mindanao.
The estimated economic benefits also include employment and earnings on value adding by the processing facilities expected to be set-up and since the major markets are the US and Europe, this also means an improvement on our balance of trade with these nations. The greatest reward that Mindanao will get from this booming industry is environmental and watershed conservation and headwaters protection.
The sustained supply of Water, being a critical factor in agriculture, will have to be assured through the protection of the forests, watershed and headwaters which are continuously threatened as the growing population look for materials for the establishment of human settlements.
The Mindanao Bamboo Industry Development Program, however, will have to be sustained with support from our financing institutions for processing facilities like the BGB Resources in Malaybalay.
It will take seven years before a farmer who decides to plant bamboo in his denuded areas and riverbanks could harvest and earn his first P100,000 from his Giant Bamboo.
Support programs must be in place, especially from the Department of Agriculture, which, during my time as Secretary and through the endorsement of ardent advocates like Edgardo Manda and Clarifta Carlos, adopted Bamboo as an agricultural high-value crop.
It is a long way to go but we have made the first step.
#AgricultureIsAnEternalEndeavour!
#LetsWalkAnExtraKilometer!
(This video presentation was produced by the Beauty & Bounty of Mindanao Media Team for the Mindanao Development Authority.)