A sixty-foot tree cut for market takes 60 years to replace but a sixty-foot bamboo takes only 60 days to replace! Its cultivation should hence be a major strategy to save the remaining tropical forests.

Bamboos are giant grasses, which produce a number of culms (stems), several feet long, each year. It grows over wide areas of Asia, Africa, the Caribbean and Latin America. It is very adaptable and has a natural habitat ranging from 46 `B0 N to 47 `B0 S, reaching elevations as high as 4000 m in the Himalayas and parts of China. It is endemic in all parts of the world except Europe where they did not survive the last glacial period. However, since its first introduction to Europe in 1827, more species have been introduced. It is estimated that over 1200 species are spread over the world. The total area under bamboo represents about 18 millions of hectares with 3 millions in China and 8 millions in India. Millions of people depend on this plant for their livelihood. It plays an important role in the daily life of about 2.2 billion people in Asia. It has become so much a part of their culture that the existence of a ‘Bamboo Age’ has not been ruled out.

Sri Lanka hasl4 species of which seven are endemic. The endemic species in the Island are mainly the small reed bamboos (bata), such as Ochlandra stridula and Davidsea attenuata, with culms I to 2.5 cm diameter. These are used in the traditional handicraft industry. Three species of large bamboo, which are relatively more abundant, are katu una (Bambusa bambos), yellow bamboo (Bambusa vulgaris) and giant bamboo or Yodha una (Dendrocalamus giganteus). These are utilized mainly as scaffolding (bamboo scaff olding are still used in construction of high rise buildings in Tolcyo and Hong Kong).

The giant bamboo, introduced to Sri Lanka nearly 150 years ago is the tallest of the bamboos. This species with its majestic culms is a familiar sight on the banks of the Mahaweli as one enters the Peradeniya Bridge to or from Kandy.

A fully-grown culm of giant bamboo may reach over 40 feet and weighs more than 50 Kg. An average clump bearing 200 culms will have a biomass of 10,000 Kg. On an average a clump can produce 45 new culms each year. Over 200 clumps can be established per hectare, which can give a staggering annual income of over Rs. 900,000/- just by the sale of unprocessed culms at the current price, which exceeds Rs. 100/- each. New culms are continuously developed as older clums are harvested resulting in a sustainable source of natural, almost pre-finished ready-to-use material that could substitute timber. It is a renewable resource, which can yield a higher biomass than any other known plant species. The proper management of bamboo stands could give a continuous income over a long period. This is why bamboo is gaining interest in the more affluent countries of the West. In the South and North America, extensive field trials have been Implemented allowing the study of Important aspects such as mechanical harvesting of bamboo clums.

Currently, the increasing concentration of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere has become a major concern globally. Bamboo cultivation has environmental benefits as it can absorb (sequester) this carbon dioxide. It sequesters at a rate of C=50% dry weight. An average grove of bamboo in Kyoto, Japan is reported to have a carbon sequestration of approxhnately 3700 - 4000 Ibs per hectare per year. Bamboo has the same percentage of carbon as a conifer forest. But unlike a conifer forest where carbon sequestration becomes minimal after a period of three to four years, bamboo can continue to grow and sequester carbon.

Bamboo pulp has been demonstrated to remove pollutants fiom waste water (phytoremediation). Bamboo has also been reported to remove toxic metals trom soil.

Manufacture of bamboo corrugated roofing. Top: Hand woven bamboo mats fed into processing machine. Bottom: Corrugated bamboo roofing processed from woven mats (Source: International Network for Bamboo and Rattan (INBAR), News letter.)

The system of underground stems or rhizomes and roots in bamboo can bind soil. Thus species with a large and an extensive system of rhizomes, such as giant bamboo, could be recommended for planting in locations subject to heavy erosion and floods, as it has never been seen to lodge. Bamboo can be grown in impoverished soil to reclaim it. It is also used as a windbreak.

Bamboo is strong, flexible and versatile with over 1500 documented traditional uses.

The oldest industrial use of bamboo has been in the manufacture of paper in India and China. India, the largest user of bamboo for paper making, uses 2.2 million tonnes of bamboo annually they find that the supply is less than the demand. Western countries are also considering the use of bamboo mixed with pine in the paper industry.

Its use as food and cooking goes far back in history. Export of processed bamboo shoots from Taiwan alone amount to US $ 50 million.

Bamboo is also used in musical instruments of all three types, percussion or hammer, wind and stringed instruments. I have listened to "bamboo music" in Bali, Indonesia where twenty different musical instruments have been fashioned from bamboo. The traditional flute in Sri Lanka is made from the clums of Ochlandra stridula.

A number of species are grown for their aesthetic value in home gardens, parks and other public gardens. Many new species / varieties have been developed for their ornamental value.

Apart from traditional uses, the versatility of bamboo combined with the ingeniousness of the human mind has resulted in new applications and products, which can substitute for fast depleting wood and is an alternative to more expensive materials. Thus bamboo has become the savior of forests!

Millions of people in the developing countries live in traditional bamboo houses, which are temporary shelters. Improvement of living standards by providing better quality and attractive housing is much to be desired. Now it is possible to construct low cost, modern houses with various processed bamboo products. Round bamboo, bamboo panel boards, molding, mat board, parquet and corrugated bamboo roofing are some of the substitutes to traditional items used in house construction. Apart from reducing wood consumption they are environmentally friendly. Corrugated bamboo roofing is light, weather proof, strong and does not get heated. Experts have even designed such bamboo houses for earthquake prone areas. An entire school building has been constructed with bamboo, in a village in Ghana.

Income generation for the rural people could be combined with factory production of processed bamboo products. India and Vietnam are fine examples where this is in practice. Bamboo is split and woven into mats as a handicraft by the villagers. These mats are used in the production of bamboo mat board and bamboo corrugated roofing by laminating and processing in factories. Woven mats turned out as a handicraft are purchased by the factory owners. Mat boards have many utilities including production of furniture.

Modern furniture made of Bamboo has a high demand. Pack flat furniture’ is a new type of furniture designed with glue-laminated bamboo panels and produced in China.

Bamboo has upgraded from the ‘wood of the poor" The future for bamboo is exceedingly bright.

Sri Lanka has sufficient land for bamboo planting. They could be planted on the banks of rivers, irrigation canals and road embankment for their stabilization. Bamboo could be grown in marginal soils. They could be planted in abandoned plantations and forest fringes. Species suited for each ecological area need to be identified. It has been estimated that the Mahaweli banks alone provide some 2550 hectares ideal for giant bamboo planting which in a decade could lead to diverse industries such as paper, corrugated roofing, furniture and low cost housing. This extent could theoretically produce 17 million metric tons of clums in about eight years to be used in various industries. For example with a modest 25% of the theoretical productivity, a potential down river paper industry alone could be vast, approaching if not exceeding, that of India.

The present constraint in planting bamboo on a large-scale is limited by the availability of propagules. Yellow bamboo could be propagated by rooting of cuttings. This may be a reason for its relative abundance and utility than other species of better quality and yield. However, such conventional methods would not be an efficient means of producing propagules on a large-scale. Most species, for instance giant bamboo, cannot be propagated by conventional methods. The alternative is tissue culture as it has the advantage of producing propagules on a large-scale within a short period. Further, a small organ such as an axillary bud could lead to the production of thousands of plants within a few months. Therefore the existing bamboo resources need not be used up for providing cuttings used in conventional propagation techniques.

Many countries are now adopting tissue culture for mass-scale propagule production. Sri Lanka also has the expertise in bamboo tissue culture. Research at the Institute of Fundamental Studies has enabled the generation of protocols for micro propagating the giant bamboo as well as some other bamboo species of utility value.

The potential of bamboo for income generation with modern applications is now an accepted fact the world over. Sri Lanka has the ideal climate, land and other essential resources. Once an effort is made to grow bamboo further knowledge in plantation management, bamboo processing etc. could be obtained from our neighboring countries where training workshops are held regularly. It is time that decision makers seriously consider the potential of bamboo as an income generator, particularly to the poor, which in time could even surpass our main plantation crops!