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Bamboo farming is on the rise in Uganda, where the government sees the tough and fast-growing commodity as having significant growth potential.
Local authorities said it can be used for fuel in rural communities, relieving pressure on decreasing eucalyptus forest reserves and other natural resources.
Conservationists describe it as a resilient plant that can thrive practically anyplace. And businesses regard it as a cash crop with applications ranging from furniture to toothpicks.
Taga Nuwagaba, a bamboo farmer and businessman, runs a bamboo furniture factory near Uganda’s capital, Kampala.
He describes it as a highly versatile material: “We make a few goods, but not as many as we should. We are manufacturing these tables, as you can see, seats, pens from the tip of the bamboo that we do not ordinarily use, mugs, trophies, sculptures, and a variety of other products.
Some bamboo species grown in Uganda are imported from Asia, but others, such as one whose branches are smoked and then boiled to produce a popular traditional dish in eastern Uganda, grow naturally.
A large commercial farm with a seven-acre bamboo lot is located just a few kilometers outside of Mbarara City in Western Uganda.
The plants at Kitara Farm are well-cared for, and there is a stockpile of 10,000 bamboo poles waiting to be sold.
According to caretaker Joseph Katumba, the facility has evolved into a demonstration farm for anybody interested in learning more about bamboo.
Bamboo plants are typically ready for harvesting after three to five years, and a well-maintained plantation can last for at least 50 years, according to Katumba.
“After our research on bamboo, we discovered that when you plant bamboo at the age of 12 – because you start harvesting bamboo after 3 years and start earning from it, so when you start harvesting after that 3rd year, your kids, your grandkids and your great grandkids will earn from that same bamboo – that is the reason why we stopped planting eucalyptus and resorted to bamboo.”
Unlike eucalyptus, a tall blooming plant frequently planted for its lumber, bamboo has no season.
Bamboo is quicker growing than eucalyptus and regenerates like a weed. It can even grow in poor soil.
Kitara Farm has stopped planting new eucalyptus lots while its bamboo acreage continues to grow.
However, Nuwagaba believes that the industry needs to develop so that more people are convinced of the benefits of farming bamboo.
“I have a few neighbors who have tried to grow bamboo, but people are still struggling with its viability in the market, who buys it, what does it do, and people haven’t seen many bamboo products – for example, these tables and chairs you see here, it is very difficult to explain to someone what that forest does – if you told them that you get furniture out of it or sculptures as I have put it, people will not even believe it.
A single bamboo pole costs less than a dollar, therefore farmers must produce a lot of them to make money.
Bamboo promoters want them to think of a bamboo plantation as a cash crop, just like coffee or tea estates.
Banks are giving bamboo “plantation capital” to consumers, loans that promise ownership of large areas of bamboo.
Bamboo seedlings are already commonly accessible in private nursery beds.
Steve Tusiime, a self-described bamboo collector, manages a nursery in Mbarara.
Tusiime says he has been fascinated by the plant since he was a child.
“If you come here, you will see mainly bamboo, but not only bamboo, but several species of bamboo, and each bamboo you see here has a story, where it came from, what it is used for, and what it is called. For example, in that corner you see a giant bamboo, which is very specific to Asia, and in this corner you see another bamboo that is very specific to India. This one came from India, while the other originated from China. They are all bamboo; this one is also from China, but they serve different purposes and have distinct personalities, so when you come here, you look at bamboo; the tale is bamboo.”
Nonetheless, Uganda’s bamboo plantations are not expanding quickly enough to support a thriving economy.
Tusiime’s nursery has sold fewer than 10,000 seedlings in the last two years, contradicting his own view of bamboo as a valuable cash crop that also benefits the environment.
However, Nuwagaba Taga claims he cannot keep up with demand.
“The reason we export one container a month is because we don’t have sufficient raw materials, so we exhaust whatever we have and then we export, but the company we are supplying requires six containers, and we can only do one for now – so we need people to grow bamboo so that we can now create; number one, (the) market that we are talking about, we can create demand, but we can also create enough raw materials so that we can actually now deliver something that is invoiceable.
The Ugandan government has set a 10-year policy that plans for planting 300,000 hectares (approximately 1,100 square miles) of bamboo, the majority of which will be on private land, by 2029 as part of larger forestry initiatives.
That’s an ambitious goal. The Uganda Bamboo Association, the largest such organization with 340 members, has planted barely 500 hectares.
Despite increased interest in bamboo farming, authorities will need to encourage more farmers in Uganda’s rural areas to plant large expanses of land with bamboo.
