Bamboo research in the Philippines - Cristina A. Roxas

Senior Science Research Specialist, Forest Ecosystem Research Division, Ecosystems Research and Development Bureau, Department of Environment and Natural Resources, College, Laguna, The Philippines.

Introduction

The Philippines has a total land area of 300 000 km2. It is composed of more than 7000 islands clustered into three major groups namely: Luzon, Visayas, and Mindanao.

The country has a tropical climate, temperature of 21-34°C and annual rainfall of 120-270 m3. It is rich in natural resources but some of it is endangered due to illegal logging, mining and other land utilization as well as over exploitation problems. The natural vegetation is highly diverse with some 8500 species of flowering plants and 2000 species of ferns. It has 15.88 million ha or 53% of the total land area declared as forest lands. The remaining forests comprise 5686 million ha or 18.9% of the total land area of the country. Out of the total forests, only about 0.805 million ha or 14% remain dipterocarp old growth or virgin forests. These areas have been placed under the National Integrated Protected Areas System (NIPAS) for conservation and protection since 1 Jan 1992, hence, no logging is allowed in these areas. The remaining residual forests, on the other hand, comprise only of 2963 million ha or 52% of the total forest area. Pine forests cover 0.232 million ha or 4% of the area (The Philippine Forestry Statistics 1995).

Bamboo resources and species

There has not been any reliable inventory of available erect bamboos nationwide except that of an FRI-RP-German Project conducted in 1988. Result of the said inventory estimated the bamboo resources at about 10 730 million linear metres, most of which are represented by climbing bamboos totalling 8318 linear metres. In the said inventory, only five species were covered. Of the five species covered, Schizostachyum lima and Schizostachyum lumampao which are naturally growing in the forests were the most plentiful, the former with 27.2 million culms and the latter, with 172.0 million culms available. The Master Plan (1997) for the development of bamboo as a renewable and sustainable resource reported that there were 39 000 to 52 000 ha of bamboo stand distributed as follows: 20 500-34 000 ha in the forest lands; 2236 ha in government plantation; 3037 ha of privately-owned plantations; and 13 455 ha of “natural stands”.

At present, there are 62 species of bamboos recorded in the country. Previous records (1991) showed only 47 bamboo species. The increase in the number of species was due to the introduction of some bamboos as a result of the efforts of the Ecosystems Research and Development Bureau (ERDB) to establish bambuseta in a number of places in the country, ie. Baguio City; Los Baños, Laguna; Nabunturan, Davao del Norte; Malaybalay and Bukidnon. There may have been other new introductions of bamboos in the country, but these have not been reported, seen or identified. Most likely, these are bamboos introduced and planted by garden enthusiasts and are kept as private collections.

Of the 62 bamboo species which are shown in Table 1, 21 are endemic or native Philippine bamboos. Thirteen are climbers and eight are erect. The rest are introduced and a few of them, introduced in prehistoric times. The commercially important bamboos which are usually used in construction, furniture, basketry and decorative articles are shown in Table 2. The current commercial bamboos can be increased to 15 species, especially those with thick culm walls and big-diameter culms which include Bambusa bambos (L.) Voss, B. oldhamii Munro, B. utilis Lin, Dendrocalamus latiflorus Munro D., giganteus Munro, and Guadua angustifolia Kunth (Rojo 1998; Dransfield and Widjaja 1995; Gonzales and Umali 1995; INBAR 1997; Pancho and Obien 1988).

Table 2. Economically important bamboos (FAO/ERDB/DENR 1991)

1. Bambusa blumeana - J. A. & J. H. Schultes
2. B. vulgaris Schrader ex Wendland
3. Bambusa sp. 1
4. Bambusa sp. 2
5. Dendrocalamus asper (Shultes f.) Backer ex Heyne
6. Gigantochloa atter (Hassk) Kurz.
7. G. levis (Blanco) Merr.
8. Schizostachyum lumampao (Blanco) Merr.

There are also other bamboo species which need to be conserved. These species are considered rare and endangered like Bambusa atra, Bambusa cornuta, Schizostachyum luzonicum, S. textorium, Cephalostachyum mindorensis and Yushania niitakayamensis.

Culture and heritage

Bamboo is integral in the lives of the Filipinos and its endless uses affect them from birth through their life. Rural midwives use the razor-sharp bamboo knife (Schizostachyum lima) to cut off the newly born baby's umbilical cord. Houses are built with bamboo splits or woven bamboo mats called “pawali”. Bamboo is nourishing food when cooked with coconut milk, fish or with “salujot” (jute, local green vegetable). Culms are carved to make cooking utensils or containers for rice.

It also forms a part of the country's history and cultural heritage. The famous bamboo organ in Lao Piras Church in Paranague, Rigal was built in 1818 by Father Diego Cerra, a priest-musician, visited by many tourists even at present.

The national dancers use bamboo as part of the dance as in the famous “tinikling” and the elegant “singkil” where dancers weave in and out of bamboo poles pounded together rhythmically. Thin-walled bamboos like the ratine butio (Schizostachyum lumampao) are used.

In “tuba” (coconut wine) gathering system, bamboo poles are arranged for gatherers to move freely from one tree to another in their “avenue in the sky”). Balo (Kligantochloa buis) is the species usually used for this purpose.

Bamboo research and development

Aside from initiating the establishment of pilot bamboo plantations and bambuseta in different parts of the country, ERDB, through the UNDP-FAO Bamboo Research and Development Project, conducted research on various aspects of bamboos. Different programmes were conducted to raise the awareness of the people on the importance of bamboos. Farmer Training on Bamboo Propagation was conducted in different parts of the country. Out of the results of research and technologies developed, different publications resulted and they were distributed to various sectors. Since then, people have become aware of the potentials of bamboo and both the public and private individuals/organizations embarked on the massive propagation and planting of bamboos.

Bamboo taxonomy

Logically, it is important that all bamboo species must be properly identified. Bamboos are found everywhere and research on various aspects of bamboo involve many problems in the country. The information accumulated from such research should also be transferable. However, if the bamboo species are not correctly identified and if voucher specimens are not kept or cited, the result has little value. Likewise, identification of bamboos with common or local names, is absolutely discouraged because a bamboo species has many local names not only in the place where it grows, but also in the town or provinces, where it is found growing or marketed. In the case of the Philippine bamboos, there are a number of taxonomic problems. Verification based on the previously collected and identified voucher specimens became impossible because these collections were burned during the war. New collections were only made in the late 1980s, when the Philippine Plant Inventory Project was implemented, with Dr Benjamin Stone as the consultant. Other taxonomists like Dr Elizabeth A. Widjaja of Herbarium Bogoriense, Bogor, Indonesia and Dr Soejatmi Dransfield of the Royal Botanic Gardens at Kew, UK have helped in the identification of some of the important bamboos in the country.

In 1989, Dr Widjaja visited the Philippines and conducted a training course on Bamboo Taxonomy. She visited different parts of the country to identify various bamboos.

In 1993, Dr S. Dransfield also visited different parts of country, specifically the Luzon area. She collected specimens of Schizostachyum and Dinochloa, which needed further verification. Since then, she studied, revised and published articles on the said bamboo species. In 1994, Rojo et al. conducted a 3-year project on bamboos “Field guide for the identification of erect bamboos grown in the Philippines,” collected botanical materials from the field for taxonomic study, provided updated nomenclature of the species and produced a guide book for their identification. In this project, 42 erect bamboo species were identified and described, a key for the identification was constructed.

Bamboo conservation

Due to the diminishing wood supply, bamboos are now in high demand as raw material sources for furniture, handicraft and many products. Because of this, bamboos are over cut by improper harvesting methods, causing serious genetic erosion due to unabated pressure. Hence, there is an urgent need for in situ and ex situ conservation, especially for those considered rare and endangered. In 1987, ERDB, through the UNDP-FAO Bamboo Research and Development Project, initiated the establishment of pilot bamboo plantations and bambuseta in different parts of the country. Details about these plantations and bambuseta are shown in Tables 3 and 4.

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