LUBAO --- Pampanga officials said that the bamboo propagation is now in full swing.
This is expected to lower the production cost of bamboo products including chairs, tables, house building materials, and others.
Businessmen and other stakeholders are urging the government to develop more technology to maximize the use of the fibrous plant.
The Bamboo Hub and Eco Village located in a six-hectare property in Barangay Sta. Catalina, Lubao town is now producing school desks.
A school desk made of bamboo would cost more than P1,000, which is more expensive than those made of regular lumber with prices pegged from P700 to P800 each.
Desks made of bamboo are sturdier and could last up to five years. Lumber desks can only manage a maximum of two years inside classrooms.
Mayor Mylyn Pineda-Cayabyab said that 325 fully-grown clumps of bamboo are planted inside the six-hectare ecological park. Thousands more will be planted inside a 30-hectare village that the municipal government is developing.
Bamboo trees were planted six years ago at the eastern side of what used to be a river in Barangay Sta. Catalina. The place was converted into a people’s park and is now visited by hundreds of individuals everyday.
Recently, delegates from the Department of Agriculture led by Undersecretary Evelyn Laviña; Department of Environment and Natural Resources-Environment Management Bureau in Quezon City; Department of Trade and Industry Region 3; and officials from Marinduque led by Rep. Lord Alan Velasco toured the bamboo hub for bench-marking.
Officials of the Philippine Bamboo Industry Development Council (PBIDC) toured the bamboo hub to benchmark on the practices adopted by the LGU to make use of bamboo for recreation and manufacturing.
Various government and private organizations commended the efforts of the local government unit here, led by Cayabyab.
Since the start of the year, different government officials and stakeholders in the tourism and agricultural sectors visit the hub where bamboo has become a major attraction.
Local furniture maker, Myrna Bituin of the renowned Betis Crafts in Guagua town, said that the Lubao Bamboo Hub could set an example to other local government units in the country to recognize bamboo as the best substitute to lumber.