Programme for development and diffusion of technologies for smallholder bamboo- and rattan-based producers – Phase II

Background

In Asia, bamboo and rattan are the most important non-timber forest resources for over two thousand million poor and disadvantaged people. They form the backbone of everyday rural life, having been used for countless years in a wide range of daily applications, both as woody material and as food, and will continue to do so as populations increase.

Although it belongs to the grass family, bamboo is a long-lived, woody and tall “tree”. However, unlike trees, it multiplies by producing new culms. Each year, productive species can put out up to 30 culms. According to the species, each culm can grow up to 40 m in height and up to 30 cm in diameter. This amount to tens of kilometres of woody poles over an average bamboo lifespan of a few decades. Annual harvests are possible on a sustainable basis without the need for replanting.

Bamboo and rattan are the resource base for an expanding small- to medium-scale business sector in most Asian countries, providing employment and income-generation opportunities to alleviate poverty. There is also great potential in Latin America and Africa, where bamboo, and to a lesser extent rattan, are also present.

A conservative estimate of the present annual economic contribution of bamboo and rattan is well over USD 14 000 million, most of it in developing countries. The economic potential is much greater, as an astonishing array of new products and uses are constantly being developed and marketed. Bamboo and rattan are highly attractive natural materials, well known for their natural form and beauty, and are increasingly being touted in the design world, hence a growing market. At the same time, a number of technologies have been developed that enable the substitution of bamboo for wood in a large number of applications.

The bamboo shoots industry (both growing and processing) for food is developing at a phenomenal rate in some parts of the world, fuelled by ever-increasing market demand.

By combining traditional skills with new products, and hence new markets, the programme aimed to make a significant contribution to poverty reduction and sustainable livelihoods.

Grant Purpose

Through the International Network for Bamboo and Rattan (INBAR), the project had as its aims to expand INBAR’s ongoing research and development agenda, the principal goal being livelihood development, through a number of specific objectives, namely to:

• increase livelihood opportunities through action-research projects using bamboo and rattan technologies;
• engage in improved smallholder product and market development based on successful bamboo and rattan technologies;
• build awareness in producer countries of the benefits of using bamboo and rattan, through increased information dissemination and socio-economic data collection; and
• strengthen national, regional and international coordination, cooperation and collaboration in livelihood development using bamboo and rattan through increased networking.

Components

Action research projects (ARP)

Initially, technical and enabling environment needs were identified by socio-economic studies and discussions with stakeholders in the project countries. Subsequently, Action Research Projects were initiated to validate the options proposed, to test the role of bamboo and rattan technologies in enhancing and enlarging livelihoods, and to understand their potential for transcending existing socio-economic constraints.

Technology diffusion and product development

Comprehensive information on relevant bamboo and rattan technologies, including technical descriptions of the processes involved, input and output parameters, labour, capital and raw material requirements, social and environmental factors, have been packaged as Transfer of Technology Models (TOTEMS) for south-south information exchange. This continues, while development of new products, such as bamboo matchsticks, continues.

Awareness building

Technical, commercial, strategic and socio-economic information are amongst the most important resources that required by national programmes to plan and carry out their work and which are needed by INBAR to steer its networking activities. The International Bamboo and Rattan Information Services (INBARIS) has been expanded and webpages developed.

Livelihoods networking

INBAR’s Livelihood Development Programme has been expanded to enhance networking connections between the local and global levels, transcending the constraints and barriers of the nation-state to knowledge and technology dissemination to support south-south collaborative activities.

Impact

Implementation of ARP activities in all participating countries primarily involves local rural poor, and empowers them with the skills and understanding to manage and utilize the natural bamboo and rattan resources. The project is directly assisting IFAD loan projects in Asia and is an excellent example of the kind of rural and development links IFAD wishes to establish.

In terms of widespread impacts from a relatively small grant, the project promises to deliver excellent value for money, with many spillover benefits for IFAD – visibility and access to policy-makers (e.g. in China and India), which will improve the enabling conditions for the implementation and impact of its entire loan portfolio, which in these countries alone is more than USD 1000 million. Several donors have joined IFAD and the Canadian International Development Research Centre (IDRC) in supporting and furthering the INBAR network (bringing considerable additional resources). As INBAR develops into a resource centre, it is being increasingly called upon to provide direct services, at cost, in assisting policy, planning, design, implementation and evaluation of development projects (independent of IFAD). This will ensure institutional self-sustainability.

The second phase of the project is in its early stages, and major results expected include:

• implementation and further development of ARPs;
• collation of designs of bamboo and rattan products, and making them available to stakeholders, together with the commissioning of new designs;
• bamboo veneering machine development;
• travelling exhibition development;
• relevant training offered to stakeholders;
• a marketing study in Ecuador to support ARP in that country;
• completion of two case studies (community and bamboo industry partnerships, and hydropower for bamboo enterprise development), with commencement of further case studies;
• implementation of two further Production-to-Consumption Studies, in addition to that ongoing in Bolivia;
• formation of an International Livelihood Development Advisory Group for Bamboo and Rattan;
• development of autonomous cane and bamboo institutional bodies in three States in northeast India; and
• further development of national bamboo and rattan sector development plans.

ARP activities will provide support for an enabling environment to ensure their activities are truly sustainable. In Ecuador, improved management of Guadua (Guadua angustifolia: a giant bamboo growing up to 30 m high and with a diameter of 22 cm) resources will provide more raw materials for low-cost house building as undertaken by the charity Vivendas Hogar de Cristo, and thereby improve the living conditions of more people (Hogar de Cristo particularly targets women).

Links to other IFAD loans

North Eastern Region Community Resource Management Project for Upland Areas (India)

Links to related research results

The International Network for Bamboo and Rattan (INBAR)

INBAR’s Livelihood Development Programme

Transfer of Technology Models (TOTEMs)

Technical Advisory Notes

See TOTEMs above

Contact

Dr Ramanuja Rao
Project Coordinator
Anyuan Building No.10, Anhui Beili,
Asian Games Village
Chaoyang District, Beijing, P.R. China
Mailing address:
International Network for Bamboo & Rattan
Beijing 100101-80
People's Republic. of China
Telephone: INT+86+ 10-6495 6982
Fax: INT+86+ 10-6495 6983
E-mail: livelihoods@inbar.int

Contact in IFAD

Dr Shantanu Mathur
Technical Adviser, Economic and Financial Analysis
Technical Advisory Division, IFAD, Rome