PamCham leads bamboo planting in Pampanga

MABALACAT, Pampanga --- The Pampanga Chamber of Commerce and Industry, Inc. (PamCham) has led last week a bamboo planting project in Barangay Paralayunan, Mabalacat town as the group’s part in the international Earth Day celebration.

Led by its Bamboo Propagation committee chaired by Myrna Bituin, PamCham conducted the bamboo planting at the Techno Resource Center (TRC) in the said barangay.

Other industry associations like the Chamber of Furniture Industries of Pampanga (CFIP), Philexport R3 along with the Department of Trade and Industry (DTI), Department of Science and Technology (DOST) and Pampanga Agricultural College (PAC) also planted bamboo seedlings during the event.

PamCham said the project was a kick off program for a regional and province wide bamboo propagation and product development awareness program.

Before the end of the year, PamCham’s Bamboo Propagation committee intends to conduct a bamboo show where products made out of bamboo will be showcased and sold in the local market.

The Bamboo Propagation committee’s approach to the project is holistic, PamCham said. Farmers would be taught the proper management of bamboo clumps--from seedling propagation, transplanting of new shoots to allow for quality sized trunks and proper harvesting methods.

Farmers will also be made to realize the cash crop potential of bamboo which shall be the central objective of the project.

According to Bituin, farmers and their families -along with the surrounding communities should be the primary beneficiaries of the bamboo program.

There is also the livelihood component of the project which the various products manufactured out of bamboo raw materials can generate--from furniture, decors, medicines, linens and other potential by-products of the so-called “grass of life.”

Another component of the project, product development, is also critical, PamCham said.

“This advocacy should not end with bamboo planting and management. There should also be intense research and development on the potentials of bamboo as raw materials for other end products. China had successfully generated medicines and even quality textile made out of bamboo which commands exceedingly high prices in the global market,” Bituin said.

Environmentally, bamboo is given high carbon credits for its massive carbon dioxide sequestration capability. Research shows that bamboo “aids in soil conservation by checking on erosion, making it excellent vegetative cover for stream banks and sloping areas.”

Relative to this project, the committee already proposed to City of San Fernando Mayor Oscar Rodriguez to initiate planting of bamboos along the Megadike, particularly in the dumpsite area intended to rehabilitate the soil and also provide support to the embankment.

Bituin also proposed to the Subic Clark Alliance for Development Council (SCADC) headed by Secretary Ed Pamintuan that a portion along the SCTEx should also be planted with bamboos to aid in product propagation and environment protection.