Bamboo Pccard
Bamboo Pccard
ISSN 2244-1972
FARMNEWS
Published quarterly by the PHILIPPINE COUNCIL FOR AGRICULTURE,
AQUATIC AND NATURAL RESOURCES RESEARCH AND DEVELOPMENT
(PCAARRD), Department of Science and Technology (DOST)
About PCAARRD
The Philippine Council for Agriculture, Aquatic and
Natural Resources Research and Development (PCAARRD) is one
of the sectoral councils under the Department of Science and
Technology (DOST). PCAARRD was established on June 22, 2011
through the consolidation of the Philippine Council for Agriculture,
Forestry and Natural Resources Research and Development
(PCARRD) and the Philippine Council for Aquatic and Marine Research
and Development (PCAMRD).
The Council formulates policies, plans, and programs for
science and technology-based research and development in the
different sectors under its concern. It coordinates, evaluates, and
monitors the national research and development (R&D) efforts in the
agriculture, aquatic, and natural resources (AANR) sectors. It also
allocates government and external funds for R&D and generates
resources to support its program.
PCAARRD is engaged in active partnerships with international,
regional, and national organizations and funding institutions
for joint R&D, human resource development and training, technical
assistance, and exchange of scientists, information, and technologies.
It also supports the National Agriculture and Resources
Research and Development Network composed of national multiand single-commodity and regional R&D centers, cooperating
stations, and specialized agencies.
As such PCAARRD has been a potent arm in catalyzing the
Philippine AANR sectors toward self-sufficiency and global
competitiveness.
This Issue
Editorial
Harnessing the best of bamboo S&T for people and the
environment....................................................................................... 2
Technology
Planting and harvesting of bamboo for shoots and pole production ... 3
POPEYE: Managing kawayan tinik plantation for productivity ............. 6
Yari ko to!
Randy D. Fancubila, furniture carpenter turned bamboo engineer . .... 8
Saka Iskwela
MMSU: Changing the horizon for the countrys bamboo industry ..... 11
Negosyo Bro
Kawayan charcoal briquette production: An environment friendly countryside livelihood option ............................................. 14
Sa Isyung Ito
Editoryal
Editorial
Harnessing the Best of Bamboo S&T
for People and the Environment
The Filipinos are known for their resiliency. Despite all kinds of
calamities such as wars, earthquakes, volcanic eruptions, typhoons, and
epidemics, the Filipinos remain resilient. They merely bend but never
breakan inherent Filipino characteristic reminiscent of the bamboo.
Filipinos life and culture reflect not only bamboos resiliency but
also its versatility. For the Filipinos, bamboo is a commodity of a thousand
uses. We use it for food, medicine, construction, furniture, handicraft,
water pipe, and musical instruments among other traditional uses.
Being an agricultural country, bamboo also finds much significance
in the daily life of farmers. They use it to prop banana and
vegetables; baskets for packaging fruits, fish, and vegetables; fish
pens and traps, agricultural implements; and in construction of
animal drawn carts for transporting farm products.
Bamboo is also used extensively for soil and water conservation in
the countryside. This indigenous material is planted along river/stream
banks to stabilize water flow while holding the soil in place.
Recognizing the importance of this versatile plant, PCAARRD devotes
this issue to bamboo to let our people know some of the most
worthwhile technologies and initiatives of the government to maximize
its importance as an agricultural commodity.
As in other science and technology (S&T) initiatives published in
FarmNews, this issue epitomizes PCAARRDs desire to give the
people more reason to celebrate life through better agricultural
technologies.
TECHNOLOGIES
Planting and harvesting of bamboo
for shoots and pole production
Bamboo shoots have been traditionally used as vegetable food in
many Southeast Asian countries. At present, the demand in the global
market for bamboo shoots is increasing because of their nutritional
and health benefits.
In countries like the Philippines where bamboos grow in abundance,
bamboo shoots offer promising livelihood opportunities. Bamboos
can be extensively grown in a wide range of habitats from lowland to
mountain forests in both dry and humid tropics, even on wastelands,
swamps, and dry or regularly flooded river banks.
Requiring less effort and capital,
bamboos can even be an export
earner if cultivated and processed on a
commercial scale.
In the Philippines, most of the commercial
bamboo species that are grown primarily for
pole production are also being harvested for
6. Every year, as new shoots emerge from the clump, mark four
vigorous shoots and leave them to grow as poles. It is safest
to mark those to be left at the start of the shoot season to
assure that there are enough culms to grow. All other shoots
that emerge after marking the four shoots can be harvested
for food.
7. Maintain the clumps regularly, cut the branchlets and thickets
at the base of the clump. Leave thickets and branches above
2 meters from the base to hold the clump during strong winds
and prevent the poles from falling. To improve shoot production,
the clumps should be irrigated.
8. Harvest mature poles (4 years old) at the right time. The best
time would be when the starch content is low, just after the rainy
season preferably early summertime. Harvested poles should
be brought immediately to processing centers for proper drying
and preservation treatments.
Using this technology, a 1-hectare bamboo plantation spaced at
7 m x 7 m or 204 clumps per hectare, will have a total harvest of
816 poles/hectare per year.
The Australian Centre for International Agricultural Research (ACIAR)
funded the project from where this technology was developed. The
Philippine Council for Agriculture, Forestry and Natural Resources
Research and Development (PCARRD), on the other hand, monitored
its implementation. (Leila C. America, S&T Media Service)
###
PFN No. 6849 JanuaryMarch 2012
Source: PCARRD Press Release No. 24, March 20, 2008. Managing
kawayan tinik plantation for productivity.
YARI KO TO!
Randy D. Fancubila, furniture carpenter
turned bamboo engineer
In 2010, 37-year-old Randy D. Fancubila, a furniture
carpenter, was appointed as Magsasaka Siyentista
(MS) or farmer scientist of the Farmers Information
and Technology Services (FITS) Center in Dumalag,
Capiz
Like any other MS, Randy is recognized for his
own enterprise. He has been into furniture
making for 20 years. He is also the president
of the Dumalag Bamboo Craft Producers, an association of some
28 bamboo craft entrepreneurs. For this, the Western Visayas Agriculture
and Resources Research and Development Consortium (WESVARRDEC)
chose him as its MS for bamboo and engineered bamboo technology.
WESVARRDEC identified engineered bamboo product as its flagship
product. This, the consortium aims to develop, promote, and push
into the market as raw materials for construction and for furniture
through appropriate science and technology interventions.
As president of the Dumalag Bamboo Craft Producers, Randy, like
other members of the cooperative, has been exposed to
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SAKA ISKWELA
MMSU: Changing the horizon for the countrys
bamboo industry
Research and development (R&D) efforts of the Mariano Marcos
State University (MMSU) in Batac, Ilocos Norte, have improved the
status of the countrys bamboo industry. These efforts did not only
assure a steady and sustainable supply of bamboo but also
increased the importance of bamboo as a material for different uses
and purposes.
Among the R&D activities on bamboo to which MMSU was involved
were those on improving and maintaining bamboo productivity and
the development of kawayan charcoal briquette (KCB), engineered
kawayan (e-kawayan) technology, kawayan pole maker (KPM), and
the kawayan tile maker.
MMSU took the lead, as implementor, of the collaborative research
work on improving and maintaining productivity of bamboo for quality
timber and shoots. The project was designed to rehabilitate old bamboo
clumps for shoot and pole production, and maintain high productivity
in managed plantations.
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NEGOSYO BRO
Kawayan charcoal briquette production:
an environment-friendly countryside
livelihood option
Charcoal making is viewed by most people as a destructive
process that would exhaust our remaining wood resources.
To address this concern, the kawayan charcoal briquette (KCB)
technology developed by the Mariano Marcos State University
researchers headed by Dr. Stanley C. Malab in collaboration with
Victor Angels Food Products Processing in Paoay, Ilocos Norte.
Instead of wood or whole culms of bamboo, the technology uses
wastage from bamboo harvesting and processing such as leaves, small
branches, bamboo shavings, or trimmings to produce KCB. Not only
that, the technology also uses effluents from chichacorn processing as
binder. Chichacorn effluent is abundant especially in chichacorn-making
areas like Ilocos.
The charcoal briquettes produced through this technology are
comparable with those commercially available in other Asian countries.
The KCB has an average density of 45 grams/cubic centimeter (g/cc),
ash content of 8-11 percent, and heat value of 7,995 British Thermal
Unit per pound (BTU/lb).
Results showed that one kilogram of bamboo charcoal mixed with
2.5 liters of chichacorn effluent produced briquettes that have the same
15
compression strength as
the briquettes mixed with
cornstarch as binder. One
ton of bamboo wastes
requires 650 liters of
effluent to produce 264
kilograms of charcoal
briquettes. The use of corn
or cassava starch is also
feasible in areas where
there are no chichacornp r o c e s s i n g c e n t e r s .
O n e k i l o g ra m o f b a m b o o c h a rc o a l n e e d s 6 0 g ra m s o f
gelatinized corn starch.
With this technology, bamboo wastes and chichacorn effluents
can be transformed into cash. This can be a very practical livelihood
option especially to those who are looking for an alternative source of
income.
Producing one kilogram of KCB costs P4.25 and gives a potential
income of P5.75. Production of KCB can be mechanized by using
drum carbonizer, shredder/pulverizer, and molder/briquettor.
The computed payback period for an initial investment of
P100,000 is 1.45 years with a productivity index of P0.89, if
KCB will be used as source of energy for cooking and heating. This
means that every peso invested, at 24 percent interest rate, earns
P0.89. (Nimfa K. Torreta, S&T Media Service)
###
PFN No. 6852 JanuaryMarch 2012
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BALITANG
PAMBUKID
para sa Radyo
TEKNOLOHIYA!
IM
PO
RM
ASY
ON
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ALA
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Editoryal
Pinakamainam na siyensiya at teknolohiya
sa kawayan para sa ating mamamayan
at kapaligiran
Ang mga Pilipino ay kilala sa kanilang kakayahan na malagpasan
angmga krisis. Sa kabila ng mga sakuna at kapahamakan gaya
ng digmaan, lindol, pagputok ng bulkan, bagyo at epidemya,
ang mga Pilipino ay nananatiling matatag at nakakabagay sa
mga pangyayaring ito. Ang sabi nga, tulad ng kawayan, sila
ay yumuyuko lamang at di tuluyang nababali.
Hindi lamang sinisimbulo ng kawayan ang katatagan nating mga
Pilipino. Malaki rin ang papel nitong ginagampanan sa ating pangaraw araw na pamumuhay. Ginagamit natin ito bilang pagkain,
gamot, materyales sa paggawa ng mga istruktura, muwebles,
handicraft, padaluyan ng tubig, at instrumentong musikal, kabilang
ang iba pang tradisyunal na gamit.Bilang isang bansang agrikultural,
mahalaga rin ang kawayan sa gawain ng ating mga magsasaka.
Ginagamit itong suhay sa puno ng saging at mga gulay; basket para sa
mga bungang kahoy, isda, gulay; baklad at panghuli; mga kasangkapan
sa bukid; at kariton para sa paghahakot ng mga produkto.
Mahalaga rin ang kawayan sa pangangalaga ng lupa at tubig sa
mga kanayunan. Itinatanim ito sa mga tabing ilog at sapa upang
patibayin ang lupa, pangalagaan ang daloy ng tubig, at pigilin
ang pag-apaw nito.
Ang isyung ito ng FarmNews ay isang pagkilala sa kahalagahan ng
kawayan. Sa pamamagitan nito ay nais ipaabot ng PCAARRD ang ilang
mga mahahalagang teknolohiya at mga pagsisikap ng pamahalaan
upang lalo pang mapaunlad ang industriya ng kawayan.
Ipinapakita rito ang mga pagsisikap ng PCAARRD sa larangan ng
siyensiya at teknolohiya upang mabigyan nang lubos na dahilan
ang ating mamamayan upang ipagdiwang ang buhay.
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Erratum
The name Western Visayas State University appearing on
pages 5, 9, 21, and 25 of the JulySeptember, 2011 issue of
the FarmNews should have been written as West Visayas State
University, the same being the true and correct name of the
said school.
Thank you.
The
PCAARRD FARMNEWS
is the winner of the
BALITANG
PAMBUKID
Mailing Address:
3rd Gawad
Oscar M. Florendo
as Oustanding Information Tool,
Print Category for 1994
PCAARRD FARMNEWS
PCAARRD, Los Baos, Laguna
4030 Philippines
1994 Binhi Award
as Agricultural Newsletter
of the Year
PCAARRD
FARMNEWS
Editor-in-Chief:
Ricardo R. Argana
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