Bamboo eyed to boost rural industries
THE “dream” of using bamboo as a jump-off point for the Philippines’ development of rural-based industries is a practical vision due to the abundance of bamboo in the Philippines.
This was stressed by Philippine Bamboo Industry Development Council (PBIDC) Vice Chairman Deogracias Victor B. Savellano after a Filipino-designed electric bike (EB) brand-named “Banatti” was presented during the recently held “Usapang Kawayan” bamboo forum.
Through his “Kilusang 5K” (Kawayan: Kalikasan, Kabuhayan, Kaunlaran, Kinabukasan), Savellano initiated the Usapang Kawayan in order to sustain “brainstorming” on bamboo development as envisioned by Executive Order (EO) 879 since 2010.
During the forum, Christopher Paris Lacson, Banatti EB’s creator, said the trendy motorcycle, which was made with environmentally sustainable bamboo, is just the beginning of a highly promising sector that has the potential to catapult the Philippines to industrialization.
“A bike like this can inspire the young, the leaders, the countrymen, and the industries to say ‘Kaya pala yan’ (It can be done!). It’s not (just) about making money. It’s about making us proud. We can have our own. We’re creative. We’re smart. We’re intelligent,” Lacson said.
The team that developed the Banatti Green Falcon chose to use bamboo as “it is the mandate of the country.”
“This God-given supergrass is one of our tickets out of poverty. When people see a picture of the Banatti Green Falcon, it brings an incredible feeling. Something goes on to their mind, something shifts,” Lacson added.
Savellano, on the other hand, explained that planting bamboo must be prioritized since it has many benefits.
“If you analyze, kawayan is not like other plants such as jatropha that the government once asked us to grow. We have taken kawayan. You see it in every barangay, but no one plants it. That’s why we’re fighting for kawayan. It’s not that we don’t want other plants,” Savellano said.
Savellano further disclosed that the equivalent of a P20 million-worth farm-to-market project makes for a big expansion in bamboo planting.
For one, the 20-hectare plantation project of Kilusang 5K in Karugo, Montalban just costs P1.5 million, even initially.
Lacson, meanwhile, revealed that he crafted the Banatti Green Falcon in 2017, which has a body shell made of highly durable, elegant-looking, light-weight (four kilos only versus 2-3x more weight in metal) bamboo.
He said that its body shell that is made of bamboo may just be worth P5,000, but using bamboo in sophisticated, industrial products can bring about a tremendous multiplier effect on the economy.
“The bamboo that created the body shell of the motorcycle may just be worth P5,000. But someone has to plant it. Someone has to cut it.
Someone has to bring it to the place where we bought it from. Just this, and there are four levels of job across the spectrum,” said Lacson.
“In industries like furnishing or automotive, there are so many tentacles, many roots involved in the design of the product,” Lacson added.
He further disclosed that the advantage of a bamboo body shell to complement an electric motorcycle, as in Banatti, is it can install a good sound system that can enable one to hear music very well, unlike gasoline-run ones.
