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Constraints to the Development of Bamboo Industries

In 1999 to 2001 INBAR and national partners in Ethiopia and Kenya conducted national studies on the bamboo production to consumption chains in each country. These studies highlighted many nation-specific constraints and opportunities, but some common problems were identified. Particular amongst these are the lack of skill and technological inputs into the production chain, resulting in poor quality products that do not command the attention of potential purchasers, and a complete lack of marketing infrastructure to enable products to reach out and find new markets. Additional cross-national problems included policy restrictions on harvesting and/or transport, and a lack of a viable support infrastructure such as centers of excellence where interested people could go for information, or training programmes. Additional major constraints for traditional bamboo product production systems are:

* Low quality of products
* Very limited availability of processing equipment
* Lack of storage space and lack of working capital
* The availability of plastic chairs and wooden items with low cost
* The shortage of raw material supply and the lack of direct access to the raw material
* Lack of promotion activities and skill
* The long distance to important markets
* Lack of effective village group programmes to support activities

In mid-2003 INBAR held a workshop in Uganda that brought together key stakeholders in the bamboo Production to Consumption system chains, which confirmed the constraints highlighted above. This workshop was held to discuss and to recommend possible options for market based development with bamboo in the four nations, and to develop a draft proposal to test the validity and applicability of these interventions for sustainably improving the livelihoods of relevant stakeholders. The workshop was co-funded by the Common Fund for Commodities, INBAR and the Forest Resources Research Institute of Uganda. The meeting was attended by representatives from all four countries, the Common Fund for Commodities, the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations, The United Nations Environment Programme, local NGOs and other interested stakeholders and INBAR. The following recommendations were produced:

* The workshop reviewed the INBAR-funded Production to Consumption System studies from four African countries (Ethiopia, Kenya, Tanzania and Uganda) and recommended that actions should be undertaken to develop market based development with bamboo in these countries.
* The workshop reviewed and revised the draft project profile presented to the workshop by the four countries and produced a viable project proposal for submission to the Common Fund for Commodities.
* The workshop defined the project team for implementation including the national representatives for each participating country.
* The workshop requests INBAR to select the project coordinator according to CFC procedure, in consultation with the Government of Ethiopia.

Subsequently follow up by the project national team members and new partners not represented at the meeting resulted in the proposal being honed further into the present form. Additionally, the proposed UNIDO Project Manager undertook a mission to all countries involved in December 2003 to continue the dialogue with all stakeholders, which was initiated by INBAR during the project development workshop in Uganda in July 2003. This process improved the stakeholder participation during the project development process.

Section Links

» Project background

» General and specific objectives of the project

» Constraints to development of Bamboo industries

» Instituions involved and responssibilities

» Members of NPSCs and Implementing Agencies (IAs)

» Project rationale

Related Topics

» Bamboo trade in Africa

» Accomplished and planned activities

» Commodity strategy

» African Bamboo diversity

» Organizational structure and Management