Why celebrate bamboo?

Next Wednesday, September 18, is World Bamboo Day. Bamboo for what? That is how most people react whenever I introduce myself as a bamboo farmer.
Simple as it may sound, it is a very hard question to answer, especially when the person asking grew up with the belief that bamboo is only good for administering corporal punishment.
To answer that question, I used to carry a few items made of bamboo in my rucksack to show people.

Problem is, people would fall in love with the bamboo keyboard, mouse, calculator, pen, cuff-links, earring, whatever bamboo item I showed them, and would get disappointed when I told them it was not on sale.

Now I simply look around me and point out a few items made, or can be made out of bamboo. I have never been disappointed. Bamboo is such a versatile plant; it is easier to enumerate what it cannot do.
So, as Ugandans continue to ask “bamboo for what”, the rest of the world is already utilising bamboo to tackle global challenges such as poverty, food security, climate change and deforestation.

Below is a brief guided tour of the fascinating world of bamboo and its impact in the lives of billions of people who depend on it for food, shelter, clothes and health.

Farming with bamboo
Farmers in India are growing bamboo as an alternative to traditional crops which are prone to drought and disease. This is after discovering that bamboo is a hardy plant that can survive adverse conditions such as drought.

The bamboo’s extensive root system also helps to hold soil particles together and prevents soil erosion while its shoots are consumed as food and for making pickles, handicrafts and fibres. With the introduction of high value varieties, bamboo cultivation has become an economically viable and environmentally beneficial agro enterprise, especially for small-scale farmers in India and other parts of Asia. As construction material, bamboo is stronger for its weight than steel, is cheaper than timber, requires less energy to process than concrete and is so flexible, it will just “dance” in an earthquake.

Farmers are using bamboo instead of timber to build farm structures ranging from livestock shelters to multi-storied farm houses. Over one billion people in the world live in bamboo houses, which have proven to be impressively earthquake proof.

Fast growth
Bamboo is one of the fastest growing plants on the planet, maturing in three-to-five years, and continuously renews itself without the need for replanting. In comparison, a hardwood tree can take up to 50 years to mature.

Bamboo also generates more oxygen than a similar-size tree stand. A small bamboo forest can reduce the temperature in its immediate environment by as much as 10 degrees.

Bamboo as fuel
Bamboo charcoal produces the hottest of fires. As someone from Luwero Triangle, I have always had a keen interest in the charcoal industry. A lot of the charcoal consumed in the city comes from Luwero Triangle, where forests are being cleared to feed Kampala’s insatiable appetite for charcoal. Eventually those forests will get finished.

Then what next? Bamboo charcoal is the way to go. With bamboo as the resource base, Luwero Triangle can become home to a booming charcoal industry that will lift the locals out of poverty.

Rice prepared with bamboo charcoal tastes better and is softer. Besides the traditional cooking, bamboo charcoal has many industrial uses. In ancient China, it was used to melt gold. It is also used to get rid of offensive odour, absorb harmful impurities in drinking water and to purify the air.
Put in a refrigerator, bamboo charcoal will eliminate bad smell, keep food fresh and stop the formation of harmful fungus.

Bamboo in the environment
Bamboo plants are very effective at removing metals and other toxic substances from soils and water. That is one of the reasons it was introduced at Murchison Bay in Luzira, to filter the water from Nakivubo channel before it gets into Lake Victoria.

Bamboo as medicine
The vinegar extracted from bamboo through a distilling process can be used to treat allergies and sore throat as antiseptic, skin and hair conditioner, and cleaner. It can also be used to make flowers stay fresh longer and to deodorise bathrooms.

Bamboo as food
Long before the Bamasaba discovered malewa on the slopes of Mt Elgon, bamboo shoots were a popular delicacy in Asia.
Bamboo shoots can be steamed, smoked, pickled, dried, desiccated, canned, vacuum-packed or bottled.
Bamboo branches and leaves make good fodder for animals. It contains germanium, which reverses the ageing process in cells.

Surprising but true
Thomas Edison used bamboo filaments in his first light bulbs.
Bamboo was the first plant life to return after the 1945 atomic bombings in Hiroshima Japan. The bamboo plants near ground zero survived the atomic blast and grew new shoots within days.

Are you still asking bamboo for what? Wishing you a happy world bamboo day in advance.

The author is a farming journalist
and consultant.
E-mail: [email protected]