Wednesday, July 23, 2008 Group formed to revitalize S. Mindanao's bamboo industry By Joy Romares-Sevilla
A CORE group was formed Monday for the revitalization of the bamboo industry in Davao Region, said Teolulo T. Pasawa, director of the Department of Trade and Industry (DTI) in Davao City.
According to him, the group will meet in the first week of August to discuss measures to further promote the bamboo industry and how it can adopt the industry cluster for development.
The core group was comprised of members from the regional office of the Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR), Department of Science and Technology (Dost), DTI, stakeholders, and industry representatives.
"The core group was formed yesterday (Monday) during our consultative meeting with the stakeholders of the bamboo industry in Southern Mindanao," Pasawa said in Tuesday's interview.
He said the resource speaker during the meeting was Edgar Manda, general manager of the Laguna Lake Development Authority (LLDA) in Laguna.
"Manda is advocating on massive planting of bamboo because of its high potential and its economic benefits," Pasawa said, adding that a number of end-products can be produced from bamboo whichÿare also potential for export.
Meanwhile, Pasawa said that in Davao City, there is a need to push the advocacy to raise awareness and consciousness among people on how bamboo can be generated as a source of income.
Pasawa added that to warrant the setting up of an economic-size processing plant, a 500-hectare support area is needed.
Thus, he asserted that the core group will discuss on how to entice farmers to engage in bamboo planting.
