The Forest Department is inviting people interested in growing bamboo, saying it will offer help to planters in producing quality bamboo products.
People in a particular area are significantly involved in the management and decision-making for land use in community forests with the help of the government.
The department has granted permission for growing bamboo in more than 70,000 acres of land in community forests in Thayawady township in Bago Region, said U Sein Moe, deputy director of the department.
He said Myanmar’s bamboo is mostly grown in Bago.
After establishing the community forests where bamboo is grown, the government will not interfere with the management of the forest. He said the owners will have to take care of the forests.
“We can manage the bamboo forest in that way, in which we would have minimal control,” said U Sein Moe.
Local people’s interest in developing community bamboo forests is still very low. If managed well, he said, bamboos can be economically productive and good quality bamboo products can be exported.
“If we can increase the number of bamboo plantations, we would be able to reduce illegal logging,” U Sein Moe said.
There are more than 500,000 acres of bamboo across the country, and the department wants to increase the acreage of community bamboo forests by more than 2 million acres by 2030.
According to the Myanmar Rattan and Bamboo Entrepreneurs Association, bamboo is sometimes the cause of natural wildfires because the friction of bamboo’s moving stems can create sparks. The association said three-year-old bamboo should be used.
Although Myanmar has more than 100 bamboo species, only 18 species are used in crafting bamboo products.
Good governance and management practices are needed for bamboo to become commercial products, U Sein Moe said.
Myanmar used to have an estimated 1 million hectares of natural bamboo forests, but this has declined by 20 percent due to degradation.
The reduction of the bamboo forests was caused by people cutting and burning them for timber plantations, said U Kyaw Thu, head of the association. “Another point is people don’t know how to chop bamboo, which led to the cutting of young trees.”
Besides Bago, the regions of Ayeyarwady, Tanintharyi, Rakhine and Kachin have areas where bamboo is found.
U Yazar Than Naing Myint, a bamboo grower in Yangon Region, said he is happy to hear the government’s invitation for people interested in planting community forests of bamboo.
“I think that is good news. We can’t make a profit from bamboo because of poor quality,” he said. “To improve bamboo production, we need public awareness and cooperation.”
The government said the bamboo forest programme could also help improve the lives of the millions of farmers in the countryside.
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