March 29, 2024

Stakeholders are continuously promoting the bamboo industry in the Cordillera to maximize the benefits derived from bamboo, such as for climate change mitigation and livelihood generation.
“We’ve been trying to promote bamboo as an erosion control mechanism in the Cordillera and also a livelihood generation commodity. We want to really do some more work in trying to not only promote bamboo carving and planting, but already use, ito ‘yung job generation,” Philippine Bamboo Foundation, Inc. president Edgardo Manda said during the recent Regional Micro, Small, and Medium Enterprises Development Council meeting.
Manda said the bamboo industry has a great potential to become part of the tourism industry, as proven by the bamboo sanctuary they developed at Liteng, Pacdal.
The St. Francis Xavier Seminary Bamboo Educational Demo Farm in Pacdal can be a benchmark for eco-farm for other municipalities in the region, he said.
 The bamboo eco-farm is a partnership project of the Philippine Bamboo Foundation and the Commission on Environment of the Diocese of Baguio.
“With that, you can generate as many jobs for handicrafts, for the service workers, and restaurants,” Manda said.
“The reason we want to have this offered to the handicraft makers is we are aware of the difficulty of sourcing wood materials now. Bamboo is the next alternative medium to wood to preserve our forest,” Manda said.
The Watershed and Water Resources Research Development and Extension Center, in partnership with the Philippine Bambusetum, will conduct a study on several ornamental bamboos to know the best material for specific handicrafts.  
In 2020, the Department of Agriculture declared that bamboo is a high value crop because its shoots can be a food source and its natural fiber if good for weaving.
The Cordillera Regional Bamboo Industry Council expressed support to the promotion of the bamboo industry which is, according to bamboo consultant Fatima Tangan, could be an income generating avenue for the region. – Debbie Gasingan