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Plans Under Way To Improve Bamboo Production Locally

March 9, 2004

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Cabinet has approved Jamaica’s entry into the International Network for Bamboo and Rattan (INBAR), which will assist in improving the country’s bamboo production.
Minister of Information, Senator Burchell Whiteman told journalists at the weekly post-Cabinet press briefing on Monday (March 8) at Jamaica House that the country would derive several benefits from joining this organization.
Citing some of the benefits, the Minister said that INBAR, which is a not-for-profit, autonomous international organization with full juridical personality in international law, assists Member States, particularly those with significant bamboo and rattan producing areas.
He said that INBAR, which has its headquarters in Beijing, China, also helped to identify, undertake, coordinate and support strategic research and development on bamboo and rattan in these Member States. It also facilitates the linking of scientific, technical, management and financial expertise with local partners and coordinate and lead teams to develop proposals and fund projects.
In addition, he said that INBAR also provided resource improvement and management and would help in the processing and the product technology in relations to bamboo.
He said that once the Agreement had been signed with INBAR the designated Central Authority for Jamaica would be the Forestry Department in the Ministry of Agriculture.
“Once we have signed formally to the Agreement we can expect to have close discussions with the host country and with INBAR itself in relations to projects that may be undertaken using Jamaican bamboo and Jamaican personnel,” he said.
Jamaica currently has 3,000 hectares of pure bamboo with eight varieties identified so far. The most abundant is Bambusa Vulgaris. Bamboo is used in different forms in Jamaica, including handicrafts, flutes, furniture, yam sticks, picket fences, pulp and paper for stationery.
Bamboo is also used to stabilize soils, prevent slope erosion, sustain riverbanks and as nutrient stripper for sewage and as a form of housing solution.

Last Updated: March 9, 2004

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