Photo by Portia Crowe/IPS |
ADDIS ABABA , Apr 8 2013 (IPS) - A
combination of an abundance of bamboo and eager foreign investment is making
Ethiopia a frontier for the bamboo industrial revolution in Africa, according
to the country’s government.
“Ethiopia has the resources, the investment, a rapidly-developing
manufacturing industry and a strong demand for our bamboo products from foreign
markets. We have what we need. The expansion of Africa’s bamboo sector has
begun,” Ethiopia’s State Minister for Agriculture and Rural Development Mitiku
Kassa told IPS.
“The market potential of bamboo in Europe is massive. We believe
that there can be a reliable and effective supply chain built here in Ethiopia
to create a bamboo manufacturing industry,” said Felix Boeck, an associate
engineer at Africa Bamboo PLC, a public-private partnership set up with
Ethiopian partners and supported by the German Development Cooperation in 2012.
“The fastest-growing market in Europe for the wood industry is
flooring and outdoor decking. We expect our products to play a large role in
this market,” Boeck told IPS.
In comparison to soft wood trees that can take 30 years to reach
maturity, bamboo is a fully mature resource after three years, making it
commercially and environmentally sustainable. Sub-Saharan Africa has three million hectares of bamboo forest,
around four percent of the continent’s total forest cover. Ethiopia plans to
increase its bamboo cover to two million hectares over the next five years.
Small-scale Ethiopian bamboo farmers like Ghetnet Melaku are
enthusiastic to participate in the development of the bamboo sector, if
investment in its expansion is inclusive of small farmers.
“I am just making enough money to subsist by producing bamboo for
the local craft market and, if I had the opportunity, I would like to increase
my capacity for skilled production and a better financial return,” Melaku told
IPS.
The International
Network for Bamboo and Rattan (INBAR) is an intergovernmental
organisation that assists governments, businesses and local communities to
identify innovative bamboo-based opportunities for human development.
It is helping sensitise African governments to the high potential
of bamboo as a versatile and renewable resource that can generate sustainable
development. According to INBAR, one billion people around the world use bamboo
in their daily lives as housing material, fencing and food, and in craft
production, etc.
“If properly managed, this highly versatile resource could spur
economic growth in a world export market valued at two billion dollars in 2011,
reduce deforestation and cut carbon emissions,” INBAR director general J. Coosje
Hoogendoorn told IPS.
Deforestation has ravaged Africa’s environment – the carbon
emissions from burning timber on the continent alone are expected to reach 6.7
million tonnes by 2050. As 90 percent of the population in sub-Saharan Africa
use firewood or charcoal to cook, the development of an alternative resource
like bamboo has become essential.
“Sourcing fuel for cooking food is integral to food security,”
said Hoogendoorn. “Rice, maize and pulses all require heat to become edible.
Renewable alternatives like bamboo can help minimise deforestation caused by
the logging of soft timber wood for cooking fuel and house materials.”
Ethiopia’s government has prohibited the creation of charcoal from
burnt wood for retail and is actively advocating sustainable alternatives such
as bamboo.
“Bamboo is a major untapped resource for Ethiopia. We are pushing
to grow and conserve our bamboo resources. We are starting to work with farmers
and enterprises to encourage and develop this sector for the country’s economic
and environmental benefit. We are working to undo unsustainable practices and
advocate new alternatives,” State Minister Kassa told IPS.
High demand for Ethiopia’s agricultural output such as bamboo can
drive growth and development for the country’s poor if it generates employment
opportunities and remains non-exploitative towards farm workers and the land,
said research fellow Steve Wiggins from the Overseas Development Institute (ODI).
The ODI is the United Kingdom’s leading independent think tank on international
development and humanitarian issues.
“It is good if there is another source of demand for farm produce,
so long as the economics of bamboo offer decent returns to land and labour,
equitable deals can be struck in the supply chain, and the crop is
environmentally sustainable,” Wiggins told IPS. While bamboo production in Asia carries connotations of
unsustainable forestry practices and illegal logging, INBAR is working to share
lessons learnt and bring bamboo production in Africa’s market up to the highest
standards.
“Sustainable management of a country’s bamboo sector is extremely
important to the future of a country’s market, especially if that country is
wanting to export its products to the European market where laws stipulate
conformity to high sustainability standards,” Hoogendoorn said.
As the industrial development of bamboo in Africa is in its infancy, investors have until recently been cautious about ploughing large amounts of money into a market whose dividends are relatively unknown.
“We are ready for the same industrial revolution in bamboo
development that Ethiopia is currently experiencing,” Andrew Akwasi
Oteng-Amoako, the chief research scientist at the Forestry Research Institute
in Ghana, told IPS. He lamented that although his West African country had an
abundance of bamboo, it failed to secure the same investment as Ethiopia. “We anticipate a revival of investment interest in Ghana’s bamboo
industry in the near future thanks to Ethiopia’s success,” Oteng-Amoako said.
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