Improved bamboo varieties provide a renewable supply of quality materials for Haiti's construction and handicraft needs. Bamboo is also a useful tool to counter soil erosion on hillsides and ravines.
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Bamboo is a renewable source of material for building and handicrafts
ORE has established a dozen high quality bamboo cultivars suitable for building and handicrafts with the help of Norman Bezona, a bamboo expert from Hawaii. As part of a joint Peace Corps and Partners of America project, Dr. Bezona supplied us with twelve varieties generously donated by the Quindembo Nursery in Hawaii, adding to the collection previously introduced by ORE from Puerto Rico and Florida. He subsequently provided training for propagation by ‘root division’, which has proved highly successful, as propagation by cuttings.
These bamboo varieties are one of the most suitable plant materials to combat the current exponential increase in hillside soil erosion, particularly for the control of ravines, and provide a renewable supply of material for commercial use. They are also a viable substitute for the local building industry's insatiable demand for post wood – a major cause of deforestation in the country.
Bamboo has an enormous potential for construction purposes, to replace the vast quantities of post-wood used for scaffolding, for handicrafts and as solution to many of Haiti’s urgent environmental problems. Many bamboo cultivars grow culms (or poles) 100 ft. tall each year.
“Bamboo grows more rapidly than any other plant on the planet.
It has been clocked surging skyward as fast as 47.6 inches in a 24-hour period.
Astonishing vitality, great versatility, lightweight strength, ease in working with simple tools, striking beauty in both its natural and finished state – these qualities have given bamboo a longer and more varied role in human culture than any other plant.”
David Farrelly, The Book of Bamboo
We introducing new bamboo varieties from USDA Agricultural Research Stations in Puerto Rico, and also the Quindembo nursery in Hawaii. The major varieties introduced are:
Name |
Utilization |
Culm Diameter |
Height |
|||
|
|
Ins |
cms |
|
ft |
m |
Bambusa bambos |
construction/scaffolding & crafts - thorny hedges |
7 |
18 |
|
100 |
31 |
B. Burmanica |
construction |
4 |
10 |
|
60 |
18 |
B. dolichoclada |
crafts – windbreaks |
4 |
10 |
|
35 |
11 |
B. edulis |
construction – edible - paper pulp |
3 |
8 |
|
65 |
20 |
B. glaucescens (multiplex) |
craft (small poles) – hedges |
1 |
3 |
|
20-35 |
6-10 |
B. multiplex (Alfonse Karr) (PI. 63959) |
craft (small poles) – hedges |
1 |
3 |
|
20-35 |
6-10 |
B. multiplex (Fern Leaf) (PI. 77014) |
craft (small poles) – hedges |
1 |
3 |
|
20-35 |
6-10 |
B. polimorpha |
construction/scaffolding |
6 |
15 |
|
80 |
25 |
B. tulda |
construction/scaffolding - furniture – fodder |
4 |
10 |
|
70 |
22 |
B. tuldoides |
light construction - basketry & crafts |
3 |
6 |
|
55 |
17 |
B. ventricosa |
furniture - fodder - ornamental - temp support pole |
3 |
6 |
|
55 |
17 |
B. sp. (PI. 63959) |
unknown |
- |
- |
|
- |
- |
Cephalostachyum pergracile |
unknown |
- |
- |
|
- |
- |
Dendrocalamus asper |
construction/scaffolding - furniture - crafts – edible |
8 |
20 |
|
100 |
31 |
D. strictus |
construction/scaffolding - paper pulp - crafts - hedges - drought resistant - edible |
5 |
13 |
|
60 |
18 |
D. strictus A |
construction/scaffolding - paper pulp - crafts - hedges - drought resistant - edible |
5 |
13 |
|
60 |
18 |
D. giganteus |
construction/scaffolding - furniture - crafts – edible |
12 |
30 |
|
100 |
31 |
D. membranaceus |
construction/scaffolding - crafts – edible |
4 |
10 |
|
70 |
22 |
Gigantichloa albociliata |
furniture - crafts – edible |
1 |
3 |
|
30 |
9 |
Guadua angustifolia bicolor |
construction/scaffolding – furniture |
8 |
20 |
|
100 |
31 |
Guadua chacoensis |
construction/scaffolding – furniture |
8 |
20 |
|
100 |
31 |
Phylostachys aurea (Wynne - large) |
crafts - invasive - erosion control – edible |
2 |
5 |
|
30 |
9 |
Thyrsostachys Siamensis |
construction/scaffolding - paper pulp - crafts – edible |
3 |
8 |
|
40 |
12 |
Propagating bamboo: we have been propagating bamboo by root division and branch cuttings. Propagation by root division and branch cuttings under mist spray has been used to increase the initial stock of 150 plants to over 12,000. Most of the varieties can be multiplied best by root division - whereby an existing plant's roots are cut in four work, allowed to grow back and after a few months is divided again. The Guadua angustofolia which is used in Columbia for house construction is one of the easiest varieties to propagated by branch cuttings.
Samples of each variety have been planted in both Camp Perrin (200 m altitude) and Déron (800 m altitude) and other regions of the country. We have also distributed thousands of bamboo plants to local NGOs and farmers focusing on stabilizing river banks and hillside conservation.
A look at bamboo in Haiti
Support our efforts to give farmers more bamboo
Bamboo is a great resource for farmers for their building and handicraft needs
and bamboo poles of the new solid varieties provide a good income.
The tree’s productive life can be safely estimated at 30-40 years.
The cost of a bamboo plant is about $5.
and bamboo poles of the new solid varieties provide a good income.
The tree’s productive life can be safely estimated at 30-40 years.
The cost of a bamboo plant is about $5.