Last week, we embarked on a journey to explore what sustainable economic growth entails through the lens of our resilient bamboo farmer, Cecilia. Faced with the closure of her furniture manufacturing business due to the logging moratorium in Kenya which cut off her vital timber supply, she found herself at a crossroads.
In a challenging moment of inspiration, Cecilia turned to bamboo — a remarkable alternative known for its ability to absorb toxins, restore degraded landscapes, transform into a wide range of eco-friendly products and high global market value.
Given the abundant presence of bamboo in our surroundings and its rich cultural significance in Kenya and beyond, one would be forgiven for thinking that bamboo as a raw material is readily available.
But as Cecilia would find out - not all bamboo is created equal! Cecilia faced several challenges in finding the right kind of bamboo for her manufacturing business, revealing the complexities of sourcing in almost any manufacturing sector.
In 2020, bamboo was classified as a cash crop by the Kenyan Parliament to promote commercialisation and to create employment through agroforestry. This signaling of national importance is the case for other valued crops like cotton, pyrethrum and rice to name a few.
In the case of bamboo, while it only takes six or seven years for it to fully mature, it can be harvested for 40 to 80 years. What this means is that with a steady and secure supply, one can explore and exploit numerous value chains, create jobs and build intergenerational wealth.
However, there remains a significant gap in ensuring sustainable supply of the “seed”. Bamboo is typically propagated through vegetative methods, such as cuttings or clumps and this means that new plants are actually clones of the mother plant.
Even if the new shoots appear young when you buy them from a roadside vendor or nursery, they may actually be genetically linked to a much older mother plant and therefore result in unrealistic expectations of the quality, growth rate and development of the bamboo. Understanding the age of bamboo plants is essential for optimising quality, and growth management in bamboo cultivation and supply.
Öle Bernt from Waterstone Resource Fiber, a bamboo enterprise, and a seasoned expert in the bamboo industry, emphasizes that "bamboo farming requires specialized knowledge." For instance, farmers must understand the age of each stem, label it accordingly, and know how to properly treat it.
This ensures that harvesting is not done prematurely, that the bamboo is not destroyed, and that there is always a future supply for the market. This type of specialised knowledge is important in multiple sectors and industries and can only be developed if there is strong collaboration across government, research institutions, farming communities and civil society organisations.
To create a thriving economic sector, collaboration among various entities is essential. By working together, these bodies can send strong signals to the market, encouraging investment and growth. They can ensure that quality seeds are readily available, which is crucial for farmers looking to improve their yields.
Additionally, by sharing valuable knowledge through extension services, they can empower farmers with the skills and information they need to succeed. A collaborative effort will not only enhance access to knowledge but also cultivate a vibrant economic community where everyone benefits.
Despite having 12 per cent of the world’s global bamboo resources, Africa accounts for just 1 per cent of the estimated over $60 billion world trade in bamboo. This is in contrast to China, which, according to the World Bamboo Resources report by FAO, is the world's largest bamboo producer. China also contributes almost 71 per cent of the world’s export of bamboo products. Africa, and Kenya for that matter, could do much better.
Initiatives such as the UN Forest Declaration, the Bonn Challenge and AFR100 (a country-led effort to bring 100 million hectares of land in Africa into restoration by 2030) have all been important in signaling to entrepreneurs the direction that countries and governments could take, kickstarting green industries within the restoration economy. In 2016 Kenya joined the AFR100 movement and a few years later, announced a significant commitment to restore 5.1 million hectares of land, nearly 9 per cent of its total land mass.
Finally, quality financing is crucial for activating value chains in emerging green industries. Many entrepreneurs face challenges in the supply chain due to the high costs of essential planting materials and across the value chain. To address this gap, governments should establish innovative funds that serve as beacons of support.
The path forward for driving economic prosperity through green industrialization will require collective action - Government must do its part to incentivize the path to market, and capitalize on initiatives like AFR100 that set the continental agenda for the restoration economy, and most importantly engage the energy, passion and talent of local entrepreneurship to engage in economic value chains.
Wanjira Mathai is the MD for Africa & Global Partnerships at the World Resources Institute and Chair of the Wangari Maathai Foundation.
