In the Field
Bringing Bamboo Back in Ethiopia
In the Benishangul Gumuz region in Ethiopia bamboo is an important resource and currently, the bamboo is flowering. One of the challenges for bamboo farmers is that bamboo usually dies immediately after it flowers, and because huge crops of the same type of bamboo flower at the same time, a lot of bamboo in the region will soon be gone.
With forest fires and road construction compounding the problem, many will soon lack the critical income that would carry them through the months when it isn't possible to farm.
It could be as long as five years before another crop of bamboo matures, so CHF and some other partner organizations have been helping farmers in the region to try and reduce that window, and to replace the bamboo that has been lost.
CHF has been providing key materials like bamboo seeds and seedlings as well as technical training so trees can see maximum growth. Nurseries were started up through the project where shoots are fostered into more developed bamboo plants.
"Bamboo is used in a great number of products in Ethiopia, and it grows rapidly so it is a great resource," says David Rhody, Acting Regional Director for Africa at CHF. "Bamboo can be used in food, construction, textiles, fuel and furniture. In the area around the project they use it to make desks and chairs which go into local schools and plans are in the works for a bamboo furniture shop."
The village of Dibate is one of seven within the project area and the nursery there alone already holds 14,000 bamboo seedlings. It also has 500 mango trees and in other nurseries they are growing incense trees that will provide critical income for some in the coming months and years. Part of what makes bamboo a key resource is its rapid growth—so soon there will be thousands more trees to replace the ones that were lost.
The Benishangul Gumuz Food Security and Economic Growth Program (BSG-FSEG), is being implemented by seven agencies including CHF as well as Save the Children Canada (SCC), Canadian Physicians for Aid and Relief (CPAR), Food for the Hungry (FHI), International Network for Bamboo and Rattan (INBAR), Oxfam Canada, and World Vision Canada.
