Workshop output proposes priority product

Monday, February 28, 2011

BANGUED, Abra -- Participants in the recently-concluded workshop on the Cordillera Bamboo Value Chain Analysis have proposed bamboo initiatives and activities to be integrated into the Regional Development Plan and include bamboo as a priority sector in the region with the private sector to champion bamboo.

The three-day bamboo value chain analysis and planning workshop was held February 17 to 19, at the Diocesan Pastoral Center in Bangued, and was attended by representatives of both government and non-government agencies in the Cordillera region with the International Network for Bamboo and Rattan (INBAR) as main convener in partnership with the International Fund for Agricultural Development, Cordillera Highland Agricultural Resources Management Project 2 and AGRI Pinoy.

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The workshop aimed to bring together all the stakeholders in the bamboo sector to come up with decisive move to push for the promotion of the industrialization of bamboo for sustained development in the province of Abra as well as in the Cordillera region with the value chains analysis as a tool for economic development.

An extensive discussion on the concept of value chain as well as the rationale of promoting the value chain and advantages of the value chain approach and the prerequisites of a successful value chain project were presented by Ms. Rita Pilarca, a Senior Adviser at the Deutsche Gessellschaft fur Internationale Zusammenarbeit (GIZ) and founding member of the Valuelinks International Association.

Value chain is a sequence of related business activities and functions from the provision of specific inputs for a particular product to primary production, processing, marketing and up to the final sale to consumers. It is also an institutional arrangement linking and coordinating input providers, producers, processors, traders and distributors of a particular product and it employs a systemic economic model which combines the selection of a product and the appropriate technology with a particular way of organizing the actors in order to access the market.

The approach of value chain is very helpful, to small enterprises since they lack technical capacity and investment volume. Since the small entrepreneurs produce for more distant markets and need to conform with global labour and environmental standards, the local producers need to reposition themselves a they feed their intermediate products into larger value chains servicing the global market, Pilarca explained.

Dr. Ramon Razal, a former dean and professor from University of the Philippines at Los Banos (UPLB) presented the status of the bamboo sector and its potential, while Mr. Conrado Perreas, chairman of the Bamboo Philippines (BamPhil) discussed Executive Order No. 879 as an enabling law towards the development of the Philippine bamboo industry.

After the lengthy discussions, the participants came up with the following recommendations: first, to request all the Provincial Planning and Development Officers (PPDOs) in CAR to spearhead the bamboo core group in order to recommend bamboo as a priority sector in the region and integrate bamboo initiatives and activities into the Regional Development Plan; second, for the private sector to champion bamboo with Carmelita Bersalona of INBAR as the lead; third, to recommend the formation of provincial bamboo council in the provinces; fourth, to link with the provincial micro and small and medium enterprise development (MESMED) councils; and fifth for CHARMP to support bamboo under its reforestation program since it has its specific micro watershed to support the other components.

The participants specifically requested Abra PPDO Philip Tingonong to communicate to the Economic Development Committee of the RDC-CAR to include bamboo as a priority sector in the region, and for the PPDOs to lead the formation of Provincial Bamboo Development Council.

The technical assistance of INBAR was also requested to facilitate packaging of proposals and facilitate fund sourcing. (Maritess B. Beñas)