Ministry of Natural Resources and Environmental Conservation revived domestic bamboo production to develop a value added bamboo industry

The Union Minis­ter for Natural Re­sources and Envi­ronmental Conservation has called for a reinvigor­ating makeover of domes­tic bamboo production.

National revenue from the sale of bamboo mate­rial and products amounts to an underwhelming $5 million annually.

Harvested from approx­imately 1.7-million hec­tares in Bago, Rakhine, and Tanintharyi Regions, commercial bamboo pro­duction is underperform­ing, said the minister.

“Compared with the abundancy of bamboo forests, national revenue is unusually low,” U Ohn Win, Union Minister for Natural Resources and Environmental Conserva­tion said at World Bam­boo Day on September 18.

Further, it is imperative to begin using sustain­ably cultivated bamboo to develop a value-added bamboo industry locally, he added.

According to Interna­tional Network for Bam­boo and Rattan's 2016 re­port, the global trade for bamboo and related prod­ucts generates $60 billion annually.

“Increasing efficiencies, innovation, and the incor­poration of modern tech­nologies for bamboo cul­tivation and harvest will be essential in moving this industry forward,” U Kyaw Thu, chairman of the Myanmar Rattan and Bamboo Entrepreneurs Association, said.

“Currently the industry is fragmented into small regional operations. The bamboo business should adhere to the centralized trade association and be eligible for government support, something no business can do without,” he added.

Myanmar has the sec­ond largest bamboo re­serves after India and China, but after decades of failed isolationist and socialist policies, falls far behind in produc­tion. Conversely, we must step up our conservation measures, which also sit decades behind in capaci­ty and effectiveness, Min­ister U Ohn Win said.

With a government ini­tiative to support bamboo production, experts ex­pect plantation zones to emerge in Yangon, Man­dalay, Magway, Sagaing, and Shan Regions and States.

To achieve goals of sus­tainability, the ministry is working with International Tropical Timber Organiza­tion (ITTO) and Interna­tional Network for Bam­boo & Rattan (INBAR).

The ministry has also co-created the ‘Myanmar Bamboo Resource Uti­lization and Sustainable Management Project’ with the help of the Thai­land International Coop­eration Agency (TICA) to encourage responsible industry growth over the next few years.

Myanmar’s bamboo and bamboo products go to United States, India, Pakistan, Japan, South Korean, Australia, Sin­gapore, Bangladesh, and Europe markets.

(Myanmar Business Today: https://www.mmbiztoday.com/articles/ministry-revive-bamboozled-bamboo-market )

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