Bamboo – An excellent crop for climate change adaptation
April 11, 2010
Bamboo plantation – an excellent crop for climate change adaptation – should be brought under massive cultivation across the country as it can easily mitigate the global warming, said an agricultural researcher.
Bamboo is a fast growing wonderful natural resource most suitable for climate change adaptation converting atmospheric CO2 into biomass, keeping water table up, controlling erosion, acting as strong windbreaks and reducing storms and cyclones, said Prof Dr Mohammad Ataur Rahman of IUBAT. He said: “Although bamboo is a great crop with many benefits but very little study on its production, yield, habit and habitat has practically been done here in Bangladesh.”
The International University of Business Agriculture and Technology (IUBAT) recently arranged a workshop on its campus in Uttara where Prof Ataur Rahman, an accomplished agricultural researcher, presented a keynote paper on ‘Cultural Practices of Bamboo’. The faculties and students of College of Agricultural Sciences of IUBAT attended the workshop.
In his presentation, Prof Ataur Rahman mentioned that about 30 different species of bamboo, including exotic, naturally grown and cultivated bamboo, are found in the country.
Of these, 18 species are local and found in different regions especially in the hilly and flood-free zones. The remaining species are found only in Botanical Gardens and Bangladesh Forest Research Institute (BFRI) in Chittagong and Forestry campuses, he said.
Prof Ataur said although bamboo cultivation started in this region more than 2000 years back but its practical and scientific study, especially on its habit and habitat, is very rare here.
Describing bamboo as the primary building material of rural Bangladesh, he said it’s widely used for making fence, mats, household utensils and handicrafts, paper-pulp and rayon, agricultural and fishing equipments, scaffolding, rafting logs and many more. Bamboo shoots are also consumed by the tribal people.
“Bamboo roots can also penetrate the hard slates and gravelly stone layers. For windbreak and erosion control, bamboo is very effective. Bamboo is one of the highest biomass producer and very helpful for carbon sequestration in the Climate Change Adaptation.”
For quick growth, bamboo is known as one of the fastest growing species, usually attaining its full growth within 4-5 months. In some stages, it may be about one metre in a day, he added.
Prof Ataur noted that generally, rhizomes and branch cutting saplings are used for propagation of bamboo but seeds can also be used for ‘Muli’ and some other varieties.
‘Chaitra’ (mid-March to mid-April) is considered as the best time for planting rhizomes. During plantation, rhizomes with 3-4 nodes to be placed at 45° angle towards north in 0.6m X 0.75m pit and fixed properly after ramming, he said.
He cautioned that bamboos must not be planted under the shade of other trees. Bamboo prefers acidic to neutral soil (pH 3 to 7) but do not grow in saline soil. Well-drained and sandy loam to clayey loam soils are preferred but prolonged water-logging is harmful for the bamboos.
For bamboo management, fallen bamboo leaves, rice husk, sweepings, and old straws/thatch are used as mulch and are often burnt in the clump bases in February and 10-15cm new soil is put on and around the clump base in March. Some creepers like Mekania are the enemies of bamboos, especially the naturally grown ones in the hill forests, he added.
Prof Ataur said: “Bamboo needs high sunshine and it is a high temperature tolerant crop. Sometimes wild fire starts from abrasion of bamboos. It is one of the pioneer crops of secondary forest. Bamboos uphold ground water table and bamboo clumps are considered as sanctuary of birds and rodents.”
He noted that usually natural bamboos like ‘Muli’ and ‘Kali’ mature in two years but the cultivated ‘Basti’ bamboos (Borak, Jai, Baijja, Bakal, etc.) require 3 years. For felling, only the matured bamboos should selectively be felled.
Indiscriminate extraction of immature and peripheral bamboos destroys the new shoots and bamboo clump become weak and unproductive, and ultimately the clumps are destroyed. October to end December (Kartik to Poush) is considered as the best time for bamboo extraction. After Poush, bamboo extraction is greatly discouraged as the bamboos are then prepared for developing new shoots.
On diseases, Dr AC Basak, Faculty of College of Agricultural Sciences of IUBAT, pointed out that most of the dieback diseases of bamboo are caused due to excessive humus and water-logging situation and also for lack of proper sanitation of the bamboo clumps.
He mentioned the importance of intercropping in bamboos with yams, sweet potato, rattan canes, Murta, coffee and cassava, etc.
Courtesy of UNB via The Independent
More links realated to this topic
Comments
Got something to say?