





AS Government takes steps to develop a bamboo industry to satisfy the demand for charcoal, the Forestry Department is cautioning farmers against planting the crop on steep hillsides.







Earlier this year state minister in the Ministry of Industry Investment and Commerce, Sharon Ffolkes-Abrahams told the media that a bamboo kiln is in operation in St Mary, and spoke of plans to transform the former Jockey garment factory in Lucea into a bamboo processing factory.







The intention, she said, is to meet the US demand for bamboo charcoal, to manufacture furniture and craft items, as well as to explore the medicinal benefits of the crop.







However, speaking with the Jamaica Observer after a press conference Monday to announce the changes in land use across the island, conservator of forests Marilyn Headley said that forests are being lost to bamboo cultivation, among other things. She added that the shallow root system of local bamboo does not lend itself to preventing soil erosion and as such is not ideal for hillsides.







"When you plant trees on the hillside, the roots go down and hold the soil together. It also allows the water to percolate and come out as rivers.







"But bamboos are surface roots. You don't want to have your bamboo on the steep hillsides, especially the shale hillside, because when you get heavy rain and water movement, the shale soil moves en masse, taking the bamboo with it. It will only stay in place if something is there to hold it together," she explained.



She told the newspaper that people interested in securing bamboo plants could harvest them from the lands managed by her department, since the crop is not classified as forest in Jamaica.







"We don't classify it as forest, and we don't plant it in our forests," she said.







"We would encourage you if want bamboo to take it out of the area that we manage. We will replant hardwood or some other forest type. If you want to expand your bamboo industry there are lots of other underutilised lands that you can use. We don't want you to expand it on the steep hillsides."







Bamboo, a fast-growing, towering evergreen in the grass family, is harvested for its wood which is used in construction, craft, furniture making, and more recently, for charcoal.















-- Kimone Thompson



