Thursday, January 10, 2008 Bamboo propagation, promotion program launched By Marna H. Dagumboy
MAGALANG -- The Pampanga Agriculture College (PAC), provincial leaders and representatives of the private sector on Wednesday created here the first Pampanga Bamboo Development Council (PBDC) in their bid to address the need to propagate, promote and develop the national bamboo program.
The primary objective of PBDC is to advocate for sustainable environment and livelihood in Pampanga through the development and propagation of bamboo as a source of food, commercial products and as natural protection against global warming and soil erosion.
The national bamboo program is spearheaded by the Center of Excellence for Regional Cooperation (CERC) led by Undersecretary Ed Manda.
Last October 2007, the Advocacy for the Development of Central Luzon
(ADCL) and the CERC presented the bamboo program to the Provincial Board (PB), which initially committed support to the program and vowed to allot P3 million for the initial implementation of the bamboo program in the six pilot municipalities of Pampanga.
The multi-sectoral bamboo council is headed by PAC president Honorio Soriano Jr., as the chairman, and co-chaired by Renato Tayag Jr., president of the ADCL.
The council has three main components; the public sector group, the centers of excellence (COEs), and the private sector group.
The public sector group determines potential land area for commercial bamboo plantation; identifies participating farmers cooperators of the province's bamboo development program; assists in the direct planning implementation and evaluation of program/project relevant to local, regional and national level; and helps the private sector group in community organizing.
The COEs were responsible on the bamboo plantation development and management center; bamboo technology and livelihood development center; bamboo trading and distribution center; bamboo development fund; and promotional information system and documentation center.
Meantime, the private sector group's functions are to spearhead fund raising activities to generate financing for the bamboo development program and projects; leads the public sector in organizing the village people; spearheads advocacies for promotion on the peoples awareness and participation; helps in planning, implementation, monitoring and evaluation on the performance of the program; and helps develop and maintain management information system for an effective information dissemination system to target beneficiaries.
The COEs will be headed by PAC, the CERC, ADCL, Pampanga Chamber of Commerce and Industry (Pamcham), Department of Trade and Industry (DTI), Rotary Club of Metro Clark and other council members.
The public sector will be headed by Vice Governor Joseller "Yeng" Guiao representing the PB. Under the Public Sector Group are the Department of Agriculture (DA) Region 3, Office of the Provincial Agriculturist, Provincial Environment and Natural Resources Office (Penro), DTI-Pampanga, Pampanga Mayors League (PML) and Municipal Agriculturists Office (MAO), Department of Science and Technology (DOST), Technical Education and Skills Development Authority (Tesda) and the Magalang Municipal Government.
Meanwhile, the Private Sector Group will be headed by Sonny Dobles, bamboo director for the Rotary Club of Metro Clark and vice president of ADCL. The Private Sector Group will be composed of various non-government organizations including ADCL, Rotary Club of Metro Clark, RC Angeles West, RC Clarkfield, Pamcham, MACCI and the Provincial Agriculture and Fisheries Council (PAFC) headed by Ner Sambile.
In an interview, Tayag said bamboo serves as the catalyst for global warming also its vegetation help absorb carbon dioxide.
He said bamboo project in the province will provide livelihood to Kapampangans like the production of furniture, crops and paper.
He added that bamboo, known as the tropical plant or giant grass, helps the environment against deforestation, erosion and flooding.
