KUALA LUMPUR: Bamboo-based timber industry and bamboo shoot processing (for food) industry has the potential to offer good returns and job opportunities in addition to helping preserve the natural environment, as the plant, with its life cycle of about 100 years, has beneficial characteristics.
Primary Industries and Commodities Minister Datuk Dr Mohd Khairuddin Aman Razali said bamboo was highly resistant to pests and diseases, and was able to absorb four times as much carbon dioxide and release 35 per cent more oxygen compared to other plants.
Bamboo has the potential of becoming the country’s new economic resource in line with the National Timber Industry Policy and Bamboo Industry Development Action Plan 2.0, he said in an interview with Shukri Rahman, an observer of the bamboo industry.
Mohd Khairuddin said the Bamboo Industry Development Action Plan 2.0 (2021-2030), which is expected to be launched in October, would feature a comprehensive programme for the bamboo industry and transform it into a large-scale industry for both the upstream and downstream sectors.
He said a steering committee would be set up at the ministry level to coordinate all activities planned and monitor the plan’s implementation.
“We do not want a repeat of previous weaknesses, and our aim is to make the bamboo-based industry as the country’s new economic resource as well as an alternative raw material to other forest resources,” he said.
He said a model bamboo plantation would be developed on 15 hectares in Terengganu with an allocation of RM5 million (from MTIB’s cess collection) as a joint venture between the state government and MTIB. Five bamboo species will be cultivated, namely buluh semantan, buluh betong, buluh beting, buluh beti and buluh hitam.
Meanwhile, Malaysian Timber Industry Board (MTIB) director-general Mohd Kheiruddin Mohd Rani said several large companies were interested in the bamboo sector. Previously, up to 2016, virtually all industry players had been micro enterprises.
“In the last two to three years, large players, both upstream and downstream, began to emerge in the bamboo industry,” he said.
Among the companies currently engaged in bamboo planting activities are New Generation Bamboo (Nami in Sik, Kedah) and Subur Tiasa Sdn Bhd (Sabal, Sarawak). – Bernama
