African Bamboo Diversity

Africa has about 43 species of bamboo covering about 1.5 million hectares. Forty of these species are mainly distributed in Madagascar. The major indigenous bamboo species in the project target countries Ethiopia and Kenya are the following:

a. Highland Bamboo:

Arundinaria alpina

Distributed in altitude 2200-3500m at temperature 10-20 degrees with annual rain fall between 1500-2500mm; monopodial bamboo, culm 12-20m tall, 5-13 cm in diameter, internodes 30 cm, wall 5-16 mm thick with density (OD) 0.48 g/cm3, mature stand 5870 culms/ha, average biomass of the culms amounts to 51.3 tons/ha, annual increment 1000 new culms, yielding 8.6 tons/ha.

b. Lowland Bamboo:

Oxytenanthera abyssinca/braunii

lowlandbambooDistributed at altitude 700-1800 m with annual fall being higher than 1500 mm; sympodial bamboo, culm 6-16 m tall, 6-10 cm in diameter, internodes 20 cm; wall density 0.61 g/cm3, per ha 8000 living culms plus 4000 dead culms, average biomass of culms amounts to 70.3 tons/ha. The mean annual increment of oven dry culms is 10.1 tons/ha.

Oreobambos buchwaldii

Found between 300-1400 meters of altitude, up to 18 meters length, but not straight, solitary clumps (sympodial).

More than twenty non-indigenous or exotic specious have been introduced to the region, mainly in research institutions (KEFRI in Kenya in cooperation with Asian Research and Development Institutions since 1986) or on individually owned farms. These already introduced non-indigenous bamboo species have not yet been fully analysed for their potential as industrial species and should be included in pilot plantation/propagation activities.

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African Bamboo Diversity

a. Highland Bamboo:

b. Lowland Bamboo:

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