Rattan: Export winner

Sunday, July 24, 2011

RATTAN is one of the most important non-timber forest products that have gained popularity because of its lightness, strength, versatility and pliability. It is used in the manufacture of chairs, beds, cabinets, tables, sala and corner sets and other handcrafted items.

The rattan furniture industry today contributes greatly to the growing economy by providing local employment and increasing foreign earnings," says the Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR).

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Rattan is a climbing palm. Its leaves and climbing organs are variously covered with thorns or spines, hairs, and bristles. It has two major climbing organs, which anchor the plant to the adjacent trees. These organs appear as long whips barbed with reflexed thorns, but of different origin.

As the rattan matures, its stem becomes relatively smooth with more or less regularly-spaced scars left by the fallen leaves. These scars are called internodes. The dreaded thorns that characterized rattan are found only at its top, two to four meters long where the leaf sheaths and the leaves with their climbing organs are located. The stem without its young portion at the top is commonly called a cane or pole.

The biggest concentration of rattan is found in Mindanao. Thirty-seven species grow in the island, with 12 species strictly restricted in the area. No less than nine of the 14 Daemonorops species are found in the island.

Luzon boasts of 31 species of rattan, five of which are strictly confined in the area. However, the genus Plectocomia is not represented in this island. Palawan, on the other hand, harbors 22 species but only four are endemic. Majority of the species are generally of Bornean elements.

Filipino fathers from the old have been spoiling the rod to spare the child, using the Tagalog yantok, Spanish bejuco, and Visayan uway on young buttocks, bare or clad.

"In olden days, the rattan cane was titser's best friend, a surefire teaching aid that ensured good behavior and academic aptitude in unruly pupils," said a report from the Technology and Livelihood Resource Center (TLRC). "Today, it is every Pinoy's best hedge against the hard times, offering a source of income in an arid landscape of scarce jobs and lost opportunities."

As a minor forest product, rattan has leaped to the forefront of commerce and industry as a raw material and finishing for wood products. It is used for the manufacture of walking sticks, fish traps, hammocks or sleeping mats, handicraft items, fashion accessories such as belts, coin purses and cigarette cases, carpets beaters, hats, bags and baskets, buggy whips, twines, and toothbrushes.

Certain parts of some rattan species such as "palasan" and "limuran" can be eaten. The swollen basal part jutting just above the ground contains a considerable amount of starch and is edible when roasted. Its buds and shoots can be prepared into salad or cooked the same way as coconut buds. The stem also stores some amount of water during the rainy season, which is very potable.

The fully riped fruits of rattan are sweet and can be made into wine. The fruits of the Daemonorops species produce a sap called dragon's blood because of its deep maroon color. This sap or resin is used as dye.

Rattan can also be used as medicine for many kinds of body aches. All that one has to do is heat a five-inch strip of fresh rattan in a fire, extract the juice, and then apply it on the affected area. It is also used to treat rheumatism, asthma, diarrhea, snakebite, and intestinal disorders.

The most profitable rattan products are well-designed, costly furniture. A feasibility study prepared by the environment department showed that the return on fixed investment on rattan furniture making is 2.28 and the return on total investment is 0.56. This implies that this livelihood project is very lucrative.

Rattan development is one of the priority technologies of the environment department. After all, it combines environmental protection and rehabilitation, with generation of employment opportunities particularly to those living in the ecologically fragile uplands.

"Establishing and managing rattan plantations which can supply large national and international markets can ensure continuous supply of raw materials," says an information kit "Sustainable Livelihood Options for the Philippines" published by the DENR.

Recently, the Ecosystems Research and Development Bureau (ERDB) of the environment department has come up with a technology of growing rattan at the village level.

While rattan vines take time to mature and be harvested, an ERDB official explained that "after the first harvest, the subsequent harvests can be undertaken at intervals of three to five years. These give a margin of profit twice bigger than that of the initial harvest."