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BY CYRUS GARDE
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Wednesday, March 1, 2017
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BACOLOD City – Its “huge potentials” could turn Isabela town into the source of the bamboo industry of Negros Occidental, according to Philippine Bamboo Foundation president Ed Manda.
Manda led the skills training on engineered bamboo production in the town late last week.
Around 40 participants from people’s organizations, small entrepreneurs and Sangguniang Bayan members attended.
With the Duterte administration considering a total log ban, bamboo could replace wood, said Manda.
Bamboo, which grows faster than trees, may be used in making poles, furniture and construction materials, or converted into charcoal and biomass fuel, among other products, he said.
The Philippines is the No. 6 exporter of bamboo in Asia, generating at least P30 million annually, Manda disclosed.
Isabela is one of the main sources of bamboo in the province.
Manda called the bamboo the “new timber of the 21st century.”
Marketing the product will not be a problem since the demand is high while the supply is short, the official claimed.
Manda urged locals to preserve all existing bamboo forests and expand them.
The skills training was under the bottom-up budgeting program of the Department of Trade and Industry./PN
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