Government of Kenya Is Investing Sh 120 Million in a Bamboo Processing Venture

The government of Kenya is investing Sh 120 million in a bamboo processing venture intended to conserve its fast receding forest cover. The bamboo project is aimed at making bamboo products such as wooden jewellery, curtains and furniture that would be sold both locally and internationally. The venture which brings on board Kenya Forestry and Research Institute (KEFRI) is geared towards extraction of a wide range of products from the yushina alpine, a highland bamboo that grows in rainy forests. Already equipments worth Shs 8.4 million has been installed at KEFRI headquarters as pilot processing gets underway. According to Mr. Gordon Sigu, National project Coordinator, Kenya had had a substantial bamboo supply that could support the processing business in the country. Other countries like Ethiopia have successfully ventured into the bamboo business, and have very active industries that export many bamboo products. The investment is a joint undertaking of Japan and United Nation Industrial Organization (UNIDO). Japan government is the chief funder whereas UNIDO is a UN agency that has been pushing for positive exploitation of vast bamboo forests in the region through Eastern Africa bamboo project. The EA bamboo initiative is a UNIDO project that promotes sustainable production and use of bamboo products in EA countries with markets as the driving force. The project will immensely contribute towards poverty mitigation especially in the rural poor by turning bamboo – “the poor man’s timber” into cash crop for wood substitution and food processing, thus creating value addition to improve rural economy. “Using bamboo as a source of products that would have been extracted from other hardwood trees provided a head start to environment conservation in Kenya’s forests” says Mr. Frank Hartwich, UNIDO’s industrial development officer. It is estimated that Kenya’s closed canopy forests cover stood at 1.7 percent of country’s total land area in 2011, lower compared to other African countries with an average of 9.3 percent, and the world at 21.5 percent. However, large section of canopy forest in Kenya is montane, which are the fountain of nation’s rivers like Athi, Tana and Nyando. Source: africasciencenews