Los Baños, Laguna – To further increase their knowledge in bamboo processing and post-harvest, the Jiangxi Academy of Forestry (JAF) of the People’s Republic of China together with the Department of Science and Technology – Forest Products Research and Development Institute  (DOST-FPRDI), visited the Ecosystems Research and Development Bureau Main Office last August 2023.

ERDB Director Maria Lourdes G. Ferrer and Assistant Director Conrado B. Marquez warmly welcomed the partner agencies.

For. Paul Cuadra, Chief of the Forest Ecosystem Research Division (FERD) presented ERDB’s projects, activities, and research on bamboo. For. Cuadra shared that the ERDB has been conducting various research on bamboo as early as the 1980s.  To date, there are 143 conducted research and development activities on bamboo.

The ERDB has one (1) ongoing project on bamboo, entitled, “Bamboo Resources Inventory and Mapping Using New Generation Satellite Remote Sensing Data and Geospatial Techniques in Pangasinan, Philippines”, which is being funded by the DENR-Foreign-Assisted and Special Projects Service (DENR-FASPs), and one target project, entitled, “S&T Community-based Nursery, Plantation Establishment and Management of Giant Bamboo (Dendrocalamus asper, Schult Baker) in Dalwanga, Malaybalay Bukinon” to be funded by DOST-PCAARRD.

ERDB also conducts various R&D activities such as biological assessment and management of different bamboo species, studies on bamboo growth and yield, identification of bamboo pest and diseases, development and management of bambusetum, clump management for pole and shoot production, and biomass and carbon sequestration of bamboo.

On the other hand, Dr. Yang Jiefang, Dean of the JAF, through his translator, expressed gratitude to ERDB. He disclosed that the main purposes of their visit were to establish cooperation between the Philippines and China on a joint bamboo laboratory research and to elicit cooperation from the ERDB and FPRDI in preserving and cultivating bamboo species. Through their visit, they also hope to learn more about the natural resources in the Philippines.

Last September 6, 2021, the DOST-Philippine Council for Agriculture, Aquatic and Natural Resources Research and Development (PCAARRD) and the JAF, entered into a Memorandum of Understanding on the Philippine-China Joint Program on Bamboo Research. To date, there are three (3) ongoing bamboo R&D projects and a Bamboo Joint Laboratory between DOST and JAF.

Through their signed MOU, the JAF also hopes to provide the Philippines with technological and academic support. Dean Jiefang also shared that China has pioneered  bamboo cultivation and he hopes to explore bamboo cultivation with the DOST-FPRDI and ERDB.

At the end of their meeting, the JAF and the DOST-PCAARD representatives also visited the ERDB Bamboo Nursery. April Saños, TTD

Published: