The untapped bamboo gold mine
IS there a market for bamboo? Prisons superintendent Fred Nicholas Karuhanga cannot recall the number of times he has had to answer that question. He does not blame the people asking, aware that their experience with bamboo is limited to the times they got in contact with the teacher’s cane, back
IS there a market for bamboo? Prisons superintendent Fred Nicholas Karuhanga cannot recall the number of times he has had to answer that question. He does not blame the people asking, aware that their experience with bamboo is limited to the times they got in contact with the teacher’s cane, back in school.
By Chris Kiwawulo
“BUT is there a market for bamboo?†Prisons superintendent Fred Nicholas Karuhanga cannot recall the number of times he has had to answer that question.
He could not blame the people asking, aware that their experience with bamboo is limited to the times they got in contact with the teacher’s cane, back in school. Without caning them, Karuhanga, who is in charge of afforestation in the Uganda Prisons Service, has found a unique way of rehabilitating inmates using bamboo.
Just inside the main gate to Luzira Prison, is a tree nursery stocked with bamboo seedlings planted by inmates, under Karuhanga’s watchful eye.
Rows upon rows of black polythene bags filled with loam soil are neatly arranged inside the tree nursery that also has eucalyptus and several other tree species. Inside each of the polythene bags is a bamboo cutting, most of them already in the process of bringing forth a sword-sharp green shoot.
In the background are scattered stands of mature bamboo, featuring different species, which serve as mother gardens for the bamboo nursery project.
There are two species being multiplied at the nursery. Although sourced from Kenya, these species are originally from China.
One is bamboo dentocalamus (with a giant stem) and bamboo aspa (with a normal-size stem). Unlike the local variety with a yellow stem, the two imported species have green stems. Worldwide, there are about 300 bamboo species.
The bamboo multiplication project at Luzira Prison is part of a major campaign by the Ugandan and Chinese governments to promote bamboo growing in the country, and help Ugandans tap into the international bamboo industry which is worth billions of dollars.
Project started in 2005
The multiplication project started in 2005 with 200 bamboo seedlings obtained from Kenya.
The idea was to plant the bamboo in the Murchison Bay swamp, to help filter the water from Nakivubo channel, which flows directly into Lake Victoria.
This followed the clearance of the papyrus swamp, which used to act as a natural filter, retaining the industrial and domestic effluent carried in the water.
“Before flowing into the lake, the effluent-laden water would be filtered by the papyrus. However, when the swamp was cleared to make way for yam gardens and other developments, the unfiltered water started flowing directly into the lake.
That is why the water in the lake has started turning green,†Karuhanga explains.
Planting bamboo at the point where Nakivubo channel gets into the lake will save the country billions of shillings spent every year on water purifying chemicals.
That is why the project falls under the Wetlands Inspection Division of the water ministry, with Uganda Prisons Service as the implementing body.
Expected income
Karuhanga says after bamboo has matured, it produces poles every year for more than 50 years. He adds that one bamboo plant can produce a minimum 50 shoots a year. That means a farmer with 500 plants will harvest 25,000 poles every year.
Sold at a minimum of sh1, 000 each, 25,000 poles will fetch the bamboo farmer sh25m a year, from one acre of marginal land that would otherwise not support any other farming activity.
Harvesting is done using a chain saw.
Uses of bamboo
Karuhanga says growing bamboo can easily turn someone into a millionaire. As the world’s fastest growing perennial woody grass, bamboo has a variety of uses. Filtering water is just one of hundreds of different ways bamboo can be put to use.
Besides protecting the environment, Karuhanga says the two bamboo species have the capacity to change lives of many Ugandan farmers. Every part of the bamboo plant, from roots to leaves, is useful.
Bamboo can serve as food for both animals, especially mountain gorillas, and human beings. The shoots of certain species, like the one found on the slopes of Mt. Elgon, can be eaten, while leaves can be fed to goats and cattle.
The stem, however, is the most sought after part of the bamboo. Besides being popular with constructors because it is strong yet light, the stem can be processed into hundreds of products including tooth picks, furniture, jewellery, clothes and medicine.
Other products that can be made out of bamboo are musical instruments, cooking utensils, bags, water and sewerage pipes, match sticks, floor tiles, textile material, curtains and furniture. There is even a bicycle made purely out of bamboo.
“Bamboo makes very good charcoal because it is hard,†adds Karuhanga.
Known as the poor man’s timber in Asia and other parts of the world where it is very popular, bamboo is a versatile crop that will thrive on marginal land like barren hills and swamps and it is very effective in stopping soil erosion.
In Malaysia, Karuhanga notes, buildings as tall as 37-storeys are constructed using bamboo as scaffold.
“When the chairman of the International bamboo network from China visited us recently, he told us that their economy gets 600 billion Euros annually from bamboo,†Karuhanga adds.
In Tanzania, he notes that the bamboo is being used as pipes in water and sewerage systems. Bamboo stems are being used to pipe water from source to end users using a gravity system.
In Uganda, Karuhanga says bamboo is being used to make furniture and in construction.
When the bamboo planted in Murchison Bay matures in two to three years time, it will become a source of raw material for a lucrative craft industry that will benefit both the inmates and the community in Luzira.
Do you want to grow bamboo?
Karuhanga advises that a farmer will need to start a bamboo growing enterprise with sh1m to buy 500 seedlings at sh2,000. These can be planted in about one acre. “We just cut the bamboo with nods and push it into the soil and water it until it germinates.â€
In the first six months, the seedlings need extra care in form of regular weeding, watering and in some cases fertilisers. In the first six months, Karuhanga says, seedlings need to be watered in the morning and evening everyday until they develop roots.
“After they have developed roots, you can then water them once a day and transplant them after a month,†he says.
“Bamboo planted in wetlands tends to grow faster. A fully grown bamboo stem has a diameter of about a foot,†says Karuhanga.
Bamboo also grows in highlands.
Since it is a grass, bamboo has fibrous roots just like sugar cane. “It grows and multiplies like sugar cane only that it cannot be eaten by termites and it is more drought resistant,†Karuhanga says.
Bamboo is planted in square form, five meters away from each other. Karuhanga adds that this is because each plant has the capacity of reproducing as many as 50 shoots.
Now that the prisons department has increased Karuhanga’s quarterly budget from sh4.7m to sh23m, his afforestation section will put more emphasis on bamboo multiplication.
If a farmer wants to get large bamboo poles at harvest, Karuhanga advises them to practice thinning (elimination of weak plants to reduce competition).
The A to Z of bamboo products
A: Activated charcoal, acupuncture needles, airplane wing members, alcohol, anchors, antenna supports, aphrodisiac, arbors, arrows and arrow tips, ashtrays and awnings.
B: Baby carriages, bagpipes, barrels, baskets, beads, beanpoles, beds, beehives, bicycles, blinds, blowguns and darts, boards, boat hoods, boats, bolts, bookcases, bottles, bowls, bows , boxes, bracelets, bridges, brooms, brushes, brush pots, buckets, buttons.
C : Cables, candlesticks, canes, carts, castanets catalyst (tabasheer), caulking, chairs, chisels, chopsticks, cigarette holders, clothes, clothe-racks, clubs, combs, cooking vessels, chicken coops, couches, cow bells, crates, cribs, crosses, crutches, cultures for bacteria, cups, curtains.
D: Dams, defensive fortifications, deodorizers, desks, diesel fuel, dikes, dirigible, dolls, domes, dowel pins, dredge (fishing), drouges, dustpans.
E: Egg-cups.
F : Fans, fences, fenders, fertiliser, firearms, fire starters, firewood, fishnets, fish poles, flagpoles, floats, flooring, flowerpots, flutes, flying art, food, forage, frames, fruit pickers, furniture.
G: Gabions, games, garments, gates, grain, grain storage, graters, greenhouses, guns, gutters and gypsy vans.
H: Hairpins, hampers, handles, hats, hay, helmets, hen houses, hinges, hoops, hookahs.
I: Iceless coolers, incense sticks, insect cages, irrigation waterwheels and pipes.
J: Jackets, jars, jewelry, joss sticks, junks
K: Kiosk, kites.
L: ladders, ladles, lampshades, landing docks, landscaping, lanterns, laundry poles.
M: Markers, masts, matting, mattresses, medicines, mills, musical instruments, mahjong tiles.
N: Nails, napkin rings, net floats, nets, needles
O: Organs, ornaments, outriggers, ox cart beds, ox goads, oyster cultivation.
P: Packaging, paper cutters, paper pulp, pegs, pen and pencil holders, pins, pipes, plates, poles
R: Racks, rafts, raincoats, rakes, rattles, rayon, record needles, reeds, rings, ritual objects, roofing, ropes, rug poles, rulers.
S: Sailcovers, sails, sailstays, salt well drilling, sandals, scaffolding, scales, scarecrows, scoops, scratchers, screens, scrubbers, sedan chairs, shades, shavings, sheaths, shields, shingles, shoehorns, shoe soles, spears.
T: tables, tea strainers, tents, tiles, toys, trailers, transport, traps.
U: Umbrellas.
V: Valiha (musical instrument).
W: Wagons, walking sticks, walls, water jugs, water pistols, water storage, waterwheels, waxes, weapons, weaving shuttles and looms, whips, whistles, wicks, windbreaks, windmills, wine storage, winnowing machines, writing brushes and pens
X: Xylophones
Y: Yurts
Z: Zithers
Enterprise: Bamboo multiplication nursery
Location: Luzira Prison (Murchison Bay)
Products: Ready to plant bamboo seedlings
Price: Sh2,000 a seedling
By Chris Kiwawulo
“BUT is there a market for bamboo?†Prisons superintendent Fred Nicholas Karuhanga cannot recall the number of times he has had to answer that question.
He could not blame the people asking, aware that their experience with bamboo is limited to the times they got in contact with the teacher’s cane, back in school. Without caning them, Karuhanga, who is in charge of afforestation in the Uganda Prisons Service, has found a unique way of rehabilitating inmates using bamboo.
Just inside the main gate to Luzira Prison, is a tree nursery stocked with bamboo seedlings planted by inmates, under Karuhanga’s watchful eye.
Rows upon rows of black polythene bags filled with loam soil are neatly arranged inside the tree nursery that also has eucalyptus and several other tree species. Inside each of the polythene bags is a bamboo cutting, most of them already in the process of bringing forth a sword-sharp green shoot.
In the background are scattered stands of mature bamboo, featuring different species, which serve as mother gardens for the bamboo nursery project.
There are two species being multiplied at the nursery. Although sourced from Kenya, these species are originally from China.
One is bamboo dentocalamus (with a giant stem) and bamboo aspa (with a normal-size stem). Unlike the local variety with a yellow stem, the two imported species have green stems. Worldwide, there are about 300 bamboo species.
The bamboo multiplication project at Luzira Prison is part of a major campaign by the Ugandan and Chinese governments to promote bamboo growing in the country, and help Ugandans tap into the international bamboo industry which is worth billions of dollars.
Project started in 2005
The multiplication project started in 2005 with 200 bamboo seedlings obtained from Kenya.
The idea was to plant the bamboo in the Murchison Bay swamp, to help filter the water from Nakivubo channel, which flows directly into Lake Victoria.
This followed the clearance of the papyrus swamp, which used to act as a natural filter, retaining the industrial and domestic effluent carried in the water.
“Before flowing into the lake, the effluent-laden water would be filtered by the papyrus. However, when the swamp was cleared to make way for yam gardens and other developments, the unfiltered water started flowing directly into the lake.
That is why the water in the lake has started turning green,†Karuhanga explains.
Planting bamboo at the point where Nakivubo channel gets into the lake will save the country billions of shillings spent every year on water purifying chemicals.
That is why the project falls under the Wetlands Inspection Division of the water ministry, with Uganda Prisons Service as the implementing body.
Expected income
Karuhanga says after bamboo has matured, it produces poles every year for more than 50 years. He adds that one bamboo plant can produce a minimum 50 shoots a year. That means a farmer with 500 plants will harvest 25,000 poles every year.
Sold at a minimum of sh1, 000 each, 25,000 poles will fetch the bamboo farmer sh25m a year, from one acre of marginal land that would otherwise not support any other farming activity.
Harvesting is done using a chain saw.
Uses of bamboo
Karuhanga says growing bamboo can easily turn someone into a millionaire. As the world’s fastest growing perennial woody grass, bamboo has a variety of uses. Filtering water is just one of hundreds of different ways bamboo can be put to use.
Besides protecting the environment, Karuhanga says the two bamboo species have the capacity to change lives of many Ugandan farmers. Every part of the bamboo plant, from roots to leaves, is useful.
Bamboo can serve as food for both animals, especially mountain gorillas, and human beings. The shoots of certain species, like the one found on the slopes of Mt. Elgon, can be eaten, while leaves can be fed to goats and cattle.
The stem, however, is the most sought after part of the bamboo. Besides being popular with constructors because it is strong yet light, the stem can be processed into hundreds of products including tooth picks, furniture, jewellery, clothes and medicine.
Other products that can be made out of bamboo are musical instruments, cooking utensils, bags, water and sewerage pipes, match sticks, floor tiles, textile material, curtains and furniture. There is even a bicycle made purely out of bamboo.
“Bamboo makes very good charcoal because it is hard,†adds Karuhanga.
Known as the poor man’s timber in Asia and other parts of the world where it is very popular, bamboo is a versatile crop that will thrive on marginal land like barren hills and swamps and it is very effective in stopping soil erosion.
In Malaysia, Karuhanga notes, buildings as tall as 37-storeys are constructed using bamboo as scaffold.
“When the chairman of the International bamboo network from China visited us recently, he told us that their economy gets 600 billion Euros annually from bamboo,†Karuhanga adds.
In Tanzania, he notes that the bamboo is being used as pipes in water and sewerage systems. Bamboo stems are being used to pipe water from source to end users using a gravity system.
In Uganda, Karuhanga says bamboo is being used to make furniture and in construction.
When the bamboo planted in Murchison Bay matures in two to three years time, it will become a source of raw material for a lucrative craft industry that will benefit both the inmates and the community in Luzira.
Do you want to grow bamboo?
Karuhanga advises that a farmer will need to start a bamboo growing enterprise with sh1m to buy 500 seedlings at sh2,000. These can be planted in about one acre. “We just cut the bamboo with nods and push it into the soil and water it until it germinates.â€
In the first six months, the seedlings need extra care in form of regular weeding, watering and in some cases fertilisers. In the first six months, Karuhanga says, seedlings need to be watered in the morning and evening everyday until they develop roots.
“After they have developed roots, you can then water them once a day and transplant them after a month,†he says.
“Bamboo planted in wetlands tends to grow faster. A fully grown bamboo stem has a diameter of about a foot,†says Karuhanga.
Bamboo also grows in highlands.
Since it is a grass, bamboo has fibrous roots just like sugar cane. “It grows and multiplies like sugar cane only that it cannot be eaten by termites and it is more drought resistant,†Karuhanga says.
Bamboo is planted in square form, five meters away from each other. Karuhanga adds that this is because each plant has the capacity of reproducing as many as 50 shoots.
Now that the prisons department has increased Karuhanga’s quarterly budget from sh4.7m to sh23m, his afforestation section will put more emphasis on bamboo multiplication.
If a farmer wants to get large bamboo poles at harvest, Karuhanga advises them to practice thinning (elimination of weak plants to reduce competition).
The A to Z of bamboo products
Enterprise: Bamboo multiplication nursery
Location: Luzira Prison (Murchison Bay)
Products: Ready to plant bamboo seedlings
Price: Sh2,000 a seedling