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Author Topic: Forest Trees: Mahogany  (Read 1326 times)
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mikey
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« on: August 16, 2008, 09:56:36 AM »

Forest Trees : Mahogany - Long Wait But Big Returns
Many people prefer to grow crops that will give them income as soon as possible. Just like growing finger pepper that will start bearing fruit in less than two months, or upland kangkong that is harvestable in less than a month. They have their own good reasons for choosing such crops.

However, there are also a few who don’t mind waiting for a long time before they can harvest the fruit of their labor. Just like Mario Sebastian, 59, who opted to grow mahogany trees in 1992 and has been pursuing that project on a fulltime basis since then.


Mario used to be a wholesale distributor of agricultural chemicals for a number of years in Urdaneta, Pangasinan. When the going got rough in the early 1990s, however, he decided to go into growing forest trees. He bought cheap scrubland that was virtually useless to the owners in Brgy. San Vicente, Umingan of the same province. He paid only P250,000 for the first 20 hectares. Succeeding purchases of 40 hectares were even cheaper (50 centavos per square meter).

In a way, Mario is also fortunate that his junior (nicknamed Eukel) is as passionately interested in forest trees as his father. He was still a teenager when the project started and was studying business management at the Ateneo. While at the Ateneo, he helped his father by collecting mahogany seeds from the Ateneo campus for seedling production. Mario said they had the permission from the Ateneo authorities to gather seeds at the Ateneo campus. After graduation, Eukel has been the constant partner of his father in managing the plantation registered as Marsse Tropical Timber Plantations.

Today, they are almost through planting the entire 60 hectares in San Vicente. At the last count they have already planted more than 116,000 trees, including a few thousand teak trees. They have about 12 hectares more to plant which will need more than 30,000 seedlings. Yes, planting continues to this day. The new strategy is to plant more teak trees because this is a special species with a high value. And after finishing planting the 60 hectares, they plan to buy some more land. One 14 hectare property is being offered at P400,000.Unlike the usual perception, forest trees are not just left to fend for themselves after planting the seedlings in the field. They have to be constantly cared for and managed. That is why father and son practically live on the tree plantation. They have built a towerlike circular building with five floors that serves as their residence, guesthouse and office. Their families (Eukel has his own) live in Quezon City, and they only go to the city once or twice a month to get their provisions. Members of Eukel’s family, on the other hand, spend their time at the plantation during school vacation.

From the time the plantation is established, the growing trees have to be continuously monitored. Weeds have to be suppressed. Fire has to be prevented, especially during the dry months. The plants also have to be fertilized, and watered if necessary. And most of all, during the rainy season when the young trees are robust, some of their leaves have to be removed so their crown will not bend and so they will grow straight.

Even when the trees are older and bigger, they are constantly pruned. Unnecessary branches are cut off before they become too big so that the timber will not develop undesirable knobs.

Eukel said they are encouraging the proliferation of termites in the plantation. They do that by piling up the tiny twigs in various locations to serve as feed for the termites. That accelerates the decomposition of the litter in the plantation and so they are turned into organic fertilizer faster.

They also make holes in the ground about a meter deep and two feet across. This will catch the rain instead of running off the plantation. The holes are also filled with fallen leaves which eventually turn into organic fertilizer after some time.

Mario has observed that since the place has become a forest, the water table has become just a few meters below the surface. In fact a spring has developed. Birds of all types now inhabit the place and the temperature has gone down to a very comfortable level even during summer.

The Sebastians have invested at least P40 million in their project, including a P32 million loan from Quedancor. They have not started harvesting their timber because they are not yet harvestable at this time. About ten years more, and they will be harvesting a lot of the big trees. By that time, they will have put up a sawmill right at the plantation so that hauling will not be a big problem.

Transporting the lumber instead of whole logs to distant markets will not be a problem. So far they have been enjoying some cash flow from the prunings of branches which they sell as fuel wood. A buyer gets everything at P17 a bundle which is resold to end users at P22 to P25 per bundle in Urdaneta City. In addition, one businessman from Urdaneta has paid in advance P500,000 for 48 trees that he will harvest five years from now. He will have the option to choose the biggest out of the 116,000 trees. He will use the lumber to build his dream house. A trader who has a quota to export to China has also indicated interest to buy the trees from Sebastian.

Meanwhile, Mario had asked the Department of Environment and Natural Resources in 2006 for an appraisal of the mahogany trees in his plantation. Would you believe, the estimated value was is P691,016,350.92? Yes, more than 691 million pesos!

Of course, 10 years from now, when most of the trees would have attained much bigger sizes, the value could even be more staggering. Oh yes, it takes a long wait for forest trees to mature but the rewards are unquestionably big.




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mikey
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« Reply #1 on: August 16, 2008, 10:21:22 AM »

Rediscovering Bamboo
Admired for centuries, the world’s fasters growing plant is making an important headway in the agribusiness circle. Now, people are starting to rediscover the magic of bamboo.

Time was when the bamboo virtually lorded it over the whole plant kingdom. Considered as the world’s fastest growing plant, it was the center of legends and myths. In Asian cultures, people believed that humanity emerged from the bamboo stem. In other cultures, it was a symbol of longevity, friendship, humility, simplicity, and a sacred barrier against evil.


To date, its pliant characteristic and tensile strength have made it into such an amazing versatile plant, offering endless possibilities to men-as weapon, medicine, shelter, ornament, food, furniture-even an earthquake proof material and of late, a protective shield against environmental hazards. Technically a weed, bamboos are also called as “the grass of hope.”

Now, people are beginning to see bamboo in a different light. In China, for example, although bamboo has been part of their art and culture for more than 2,000 years, it was only around 25 years ago when Chinese leaders took the plant seriously and thought about building a massive bamboo industry. Similarly, the Philippines, once considered a bamboo fortress of sorts, has not really looked at the plant as a potential export winner.

In fact, according to DENR’s Cristina Roxas (Bamboo Research in the Philippines) there has not been any reliable inventory of available erect bamboo nationwide except that of an FRIRP German Project conducted in 1998. A year before that, a bamboo Master Plan revealed that there were 39,000 to 52,000 hectares of bamboo plantations all over the country. “Although much earlier, I think during the 1930s, we have around 200,000 hectares of bamboo plantation,” says Romualdo Sta. Ana, President of the Philippine Bamboo Foundation and a former member of the Board of Trustees of the International Network for Bamboo and Rattan (INBAR) based in Beijing, China.

Sta Ana, who is also an International Consultant of the Cane and Bamboo Upgradation Program based in India, is a chemical engineer by profession. The 70-year-old bamboo advocate believes that the country can prosper faster with the development of the bamboo industry. “We were really talking about it as early as the, ’70s,” Sta. Ana recalls, but it didn’t make Much wave until the First Gentleman made a trip to China in preparation for the Southeast Asian Games.”

Part of the Philippine team that went with the First Gentleman to China was Laguna Lake Development Authority’s (LLDA) General Manager Edgardo Manda. He was specifically instructed to look at the bamboo forest in Anji City and see if the cultural practices and bamboo technologies can be replicated in the Philippines. The experience of entering a city inside a bamboo forest blew Manda’s mind. “It was so amazing,” said the LLDA General Manager. “When we entered the forest, I was told that this was where the movie “Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon” was filmed and they have a whole eco-industry there. Not only was it exhilarating. It was also inspiring and I told myself, why can’t we do it back home? We have lots of bamboos!”

Upon returning to the country, Manda joined Sta Ana and the rest of the bamboo advocates in helping promote the development of the Philippine bamboo industry. First among his many missions was to surround the whole Laguna lake with bamboo plants in order to help preserve the environment. Manda said bamboos reduce carbon sink. It is also known as a “carbon sequester” as a hectare of bamboo plantation sequesters 12 tons of carbon dioxide each year. Not only that. As a watershed protection, Manda explains, the bamboo plant typically combines six cubic meter of soil. It yields six times more cellulose that pine trees.

In the months that followed, Manda liaised with other agencies like the Philippine Bamboo Foundation and the Meralco Foundation in ensuring that the small farmers understand the potentials of bamboo as a vital source of income. The dynamic LLDA General Manager went around the country and started what he termed as a massive information campaign on the endless possibilities of bamboo farming and processing.

Bamboo facts
According to Sta Ana, there are around 1,250 to 1,500 species of bamboos all over the world. “Here in the Philippines,” he says, “we have seven or eight commercial species which are massively grown in Iloilo, Davao, Bukidnon and some parts of Luzon. First among these are the kawayang tinik, bayog, kawayang kiling and the Asian giant bamboo which is prolific in Bukidnon and is used for bamboo shoots. It is already accepted in the world market.”

In terms of exports, the bamboo’s potential remains in the areas of furniture and handicrafts. Furniture, made from bamboo, according to Sta Ana, earns the country around $US4 million a year, with the US considered as its largest market. Other buyers include Taiwan and Australia. “Our strength here is our ability to make marvelous designs of world-class standards,” he quips. “Unfortunately,  most of our great designers are also pirated by other countries.”

Next in line is bamboo shoots for which the Philippines is also exporting to Taiwan, although as Sta Ana claims, we are still lacking in volume. In supermarkets like SM, bamboo shoots are sold at Php60 plus per kilo, while its farm gate price is only Php10 per kilo.

This is something which bamboo experts say farmers can look into if they want alternative sources of income. Other by-products include charcoal, cosmetics, industrial vinegar, flooring, curtains, mats, chopsticks, poles, clothing, brooms, beer, juice-the list is virtually endless. Added to this, bamboo’s waste materials can also be used to produce bamboo powder, dust for fuel, charcoal, brick, fiber board, paper, lumber, etc.

Propagated mainly through cuttings, the bamboo plant, according to experts, is relatively easy to grow. “You plant a bamboo now, you wait for five years and you can start harvesting for the next 50 to 120 years, depending on the species,” explains Sta. Ana. “And because it is considered as the world’s fastest-growing plant, you can almost see it grow at a rate of 400 millimeters or 15 inches a day.”

Since the plant is considered environment-friendly, many countries in Europe are already considering bamboo as a substitute for most lumber products.

Experts say most Europeans don’t want to import anything that is made out of tropical timber. So they opt to buy bamboo for flooring at around US$100 per square meter-something which Manda and Sta Ana sees as another great avenue for Philippine bamboo exports.

Bamboo hurdles and hopes
Just like other emerging agricultural industries, both Manda and Sta Ana allude to the fact that the grave problem facing the Philippine bamboo industry nowadays is its being fragmented, and as such, mobilizing bamboo experts and enthusiasts to get their acts together will be the great challenge.

The second challenge is continuous education and information dissemination regarding the science, art and business of growing and marketing bamboos.

Explains Manda: “Right now, we’re concentrating on teaching farmers the rudiments of nursery management, selection of species and matching them with the soil. And we’ve been successful in some areas like Sariaya, Quezon. There, farmers are starting to plant bamboos because they can sell the seedlings at Php50 each. There are also farmers who are starting to plant in Benguet, Pampanga and Batangas. I must admit that at first, it’s really hard to convince our farmers, so I always have to start my talk very simply using layman’s terms. I tell them, when you plant palay, most of the time, you don’t have anything else to do after three or four months, so why don’t you try to plant bamboo during your spare time?”

Sta Ana interjects: “In our estimate, a farmer can earn around Php100,000 to Php300,000 a year on bamboo alone. We just have to document and replicate success stories for our farmers to be inspired. I always tell people, maybe in five to ten years, we can be the number two supplier of bamboo in the world next to China.”

“And by that time,” Manda discloses, “my own estimate is this industry can earn for our country around 30 to 50 million US dollars a year! So imagine, we’re earning and at the same time also doing our share in helping save our environment. That’s how great bamboo farming is.

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mikey
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« Reply #2 on: August 16, 2008, 10:23:44 AM »

Sustainable Utilization of Bamboo Pushed
The Mindanao State University-Iligan Institute of Technology (MSU-IIT) in Iligan City is promoting the sustainable utilization of bamboo as a source of livelihood for the community.

MSU-IIT showcased the various ways to transform the versatile bamboo into a money-making crop at the recent ASEAN Science and Technology Week and National Science and Technology Week held at the World Trade Center-Manila in Pasay City.

According to Ma. Esperanza P. Cruz, head of the MSU-IIT’s Technology Application and Promotion Unit (TAPU), they have been conducting research and development activities on the prototyping, design development and processing of high-quality decorative bamboo products for high-end market. These are carried out through the Bamboo Technology Resource Center (BTRC) which was established in 1999 under the auspices of TAPU.

Cruz said that the abundance of bamboo in Iligan and nearby provinces in the region necessitates the proper and maximum utilization of this resource. She added that there are eight species of bamboo that grow in the region and four of these species are found suitable for bamboo craft.

The Center prefers to use the species “kauayan tinik” (Bambusa blumeana) because of its flexibility and resistance to powder post beetle attack.

To further improve its capability and be able to deliver products of high quality, BTRC availed of the Small Enterprise Technology Upgrading Program (SETUP) of the Department of Science and Technology in 2003. The assistance, which was payable in three years, was worth P800,000 in the form of equipment for the processing of bamboo craft.

Today, BTRC’s products include tables, vases, lamps, baskets, boxes, book ends, candle holders, trays, pen holders, mugs, plaques, and other souvenir items.

One of BTRC’s innovations is the merging of traditional craftsmanship with modern technology. Thus, some of the bamboo pieces are hand-painted with Mindanao’s ethnic designs called the Maranao “okir” consisting of spiral and geometric forms, and the Higaunon “kianoko” of geometric designs.

Due to their unique and appealing designs, BTRC’s bamboo products had won awards in the region. Among these were “Best Product Design” during the Mindanao Trade Expo 2002, and “Best Product Design” and “Best Product Collection” during the Mindanao Trade Expo International 2005.

BTRC also conducts technology transfer to the interested parties through seminars and trainings. Right now, it trains beneficiaries from Villanueva, Misamis Oriental on the utilization of bamboo.

Meanwhile, the university also promotes livelihood from bamboo production and utilization through its project called “Integrated Bamboo-based Livelihood Development Program” led by Dr. Ermelinda Tobias.

Dr. Tobias said that this project involves propagation of bamboo starting from the community level, establishment of nurseries, and rehabilitation of old bamboo stands. Another project component, the craft development, links with BTRC for training, while it partners with PhilExport for marketing assistance.

“We want to show to the community that there is money in bamboo. They only need to appreciate its importance, take up and apply the technologies we have developed, and be innovative,” she said.


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