A PLANTATION OF OPPORTUNITY
IN THE EASTERN CAPE
The Eastern Cape Development Corporation (ECDC) is the visionary steward of development assets in the Eastern Cape. Together with its private and public stakeholders, it has identified the bamboo industry as being of strategic importance for the development of the province – most importantly for the creation and sustainability of jobs and to quell the poverty experienced by rural communities. As a result, the testing phase of the sector has been initiated, and the corporation has begun to engage with potential investors and participants in the industry.
This brochure introduces the Eastern Cape as a strategically attractive location to bamboo investors and presents bamboo as an opportunity to interested or existing agriculturalists in the province.
BAMBOO’S BUDDING GLOBAL PROMINENCE
Originating in China 7,000 years ago, bamboo has long since been recognised as a valuable plant to humankind. Having been utilised in the historic crafting of arrows, paper, building materials and books, modern technology has opened vast opportunity to use the plant as a renewable resource across a wide range of economic sectors including: • • • • • • • • • • •
Nutrition: Human consumption of shoots and livestock’s consumption of leaves Construction: Weight-bearing structures and aesthetic finishes Paper-making Flooring, boarding and panels Bio-fuels: The replacement of fossil fuels Personal care: Extracts used in hair and skin products Carpentry: Furniture Creative industries: Arts and crafts Agriculture Manufacturing electric batteries Using bamboo ash to polish jewels.
China and India, the world’s leading bamboo producers and exporters, cultivate and harvest 11,4 million and 5,4 million hectares of bamboo respectively. China’s bamboo industry boomed to about USD14billion in 2010. China’s exports of bamboo products increased from USD400 million in 1992 to USD1,6billion in 2008. This is a 17% annual growth rate.
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Only five African countries (mainly Nigeria and Ethiopia) grow bamboo on a surface area of 2,7 million hectares, 4,7% of the continent’s total agricultural area. South Africa exports R9,8 million worth of bamboo and rattan products annually, and imported R120 million worth of bamboo and rattan between 2007 and 2010. First target is to substitute imports with locally manufactured bamboo products.
imported
R120 million
WORTH OF BAMBOO & RATTAN BETWEEN 2007 & 2010
EFFICIENT,
RENEWABLE
& ROBUST
Bamboo possesses qualities that make it a material of high importance in an era of environmental sustainability, productive innovation, and the research of alternative energy sources. Some of the important qualities of the plant are:
THE EASTERN CAPE:
A PLANTATION OF
OPPORTUNITY
QuickFACTS • No formal bamboo industry currently exists in the Eastern Cape, providing an open door for first-movers. Of the known 800 hectares of cultivated bamboo in South Africa, 80% has been established in the Eastern Cape. • Ongoing extension of bamboo product line requires additional supply on a local and global scale. • An established timber-processing industry is well-positioned for downstream bamboo value-addition. • Eastern Cape, as an agricultural province, enjoys readily available and affordable labour. • The bamboo industry will provide employment suitable for all people, including women and youth, and hence is of strategic importance to provincial government. • The growing of bamboo for commercial markets will enhance rural economies
• Rapid growth of 0,3 to 1 metres per day • Produces greater biomass in its lifecycle of 50 years than any other known plant (four times more than Eucalyptus, while using 15ml of water per day as opposed to four to12 litres) • Absorbs toxic elements present in soil, and enhances soil stability • Provides a windbreak (high density plantation) and hence reduces soil erosion • Grows in marginal and degraded soils • Constitutes a viable replacement for wood in construction and carpentry • High-density plantation in ideal conditions could yield 40 tons per hectare in year four and 700 tons per annum from year seven • As a renewable resource and sustainable feedstock, bamboo negates the need to utilise food resources for fuel-making • Requires minimal capital investment • Nutrition: Shoots for food and leaves for fodder • Carbon sequestration potential is high. (Note: Little research on bamboo has been conducted in South Africa so local growth rates and yields are assumptions at this stage.)
Wide availability of fertile land in a strategic location The province is the largest in South Africa and is ripe for timber processing investment, due largely to the availability of an estimated 100,000 hectares of land suitable for the cultivation and growing of bamboo plants. The province possesses the third largest commercial plantation area in South Africa and presents substantial expansion potential in the realm of forestry and timber processing. Currently, 170,000 hectares are occupied by commercial forestry plantations and 130,000 hectares by indigenous natural forests. Furthermore, alien timber such as wattle could be replaced with bamboo plantations. This land is positioned in proximity to sub-Saharan African markets via multinodal road, rail, air and sea logistics. Three of South Africa’s eight ports, namely the Ngqura Port in Port Elizabeth, the Port Elizabeth Harbour and the East London Port (the only river port in South Africa) are found in the Eastern Cape, making for convenient linkages to global markets.
A development priority of government Bamboo is a development priority for the Eastern Cape provincial government. It is seen as a sector that adds value to the existing agriculture and manufacturing in the province and provides a mechanism by which to integrate rural subsistence farmers into the commercial mainstream. The South African government has approved a 10 to15 year Forestry and Timber Expansion Project aimed at developing 100,000 hectares of new forests in the east of the province.
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ECDC has provided financial assistance to Thuba Bamboo, who produces and sells bamboo produce. 03
CURRENT PROJECTS AND
OPPORTUNITIES
IN THE EASTERN CAPE In March 2011, ECDC launched the testing phase of the bamboo initiative in the Eastern Cape. Three locations were identified for the testing, which cumulatively received R1 million in funding to establish the viability of the growing of bamboo in the province. The sites are Ndakana Village near Stutterheim in the former Ciskei, Centane Village near Butterworth in the former Transkei, and at Uitenhage. The Ndakana site is being expanded from five hectres to 105 hectares. The Ndakana arm of the project comprises a 216m² bamboo nursery that has been established for the hardening of bamboo plantlets prior to planting. 6,000 plantlets – 3,500 of the bambusa bambos variety, and 2,500 of the bambusa balcooa variety underwent the requisite hardening process before being planted to the Ndakana and Centane sites during the summer of 2011. Two small women’s bamboo hand craft co-operatives have been established to increase the awareness of bamboo, start a bamboo training culture and test the local market.
Already, 20 new jobs have been created as a result of the five ECDC-funded projects, while another 77 are expected to be created by February 2013. In addition to these ECDC-funded projects, the largest known new bamboo plantation in the country is 400 hectares and is located north of Bathurst in the Eastern Cape.
Community benefit ECDC’s strategy is to empower communities economically. As a result, community trusts or co-operatives will be established and will form a mechanism for ownership to provide sustainable wealth creation in historically marginalised areas.
Investment opportunity Investors in the following classifications are invited to discuss proposals with the ECDC: • Farming bamboo • Furniture • Building materials • Biochar and charcoal • Renewable energy (biomass) • Processed bamboo
Bamboo Charcoal Bamboo charcoal is a black porous solid product, made by pyrolyzing (intense heating and limiting oxygen) bamboo and is an environmentally friendly biomass material. Uses of bamboo charcoal include: 1. Absorption of harmful gases 2. Purifying water and removing metal ions (one example, significantly eliminates nitrogen in sewerage) 3. Adjusting humidity 4. Uses in deodorant and preservative 5. Improvement of soil 6. Braaing
Bamboo Vinegar Crude bamboo vinegar is a brown-black liquid, containing more than 100 organic components and a quantity of water. It is obtained by condensing the hot gas from bamboo that has been pyrolyzed. It can be refined by decomposition, filtration and distillation, according to various end uses. Bamboo vinegar has the following uses: 1. Sterilisation and antisepsis 2. Antioxidant 3. Benefits plant growing.
Utilisation of Bamboo extracts China boasts a long history of utilising bamboo as medicine notwithstanding that research on the chemical composition of bamboo extracts only started in the 1950s. Its many chemical components are known to be used for: 1. 2. 3. 4. 5.
Improving eyesight and circulation system Curing insomnia Quenching thirst and alleviating alcoholic intoxication As an antioxidant, antiseptic and antibacterial effect As an anticancer, lipid-regulating and anti-aging effect.
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WHY BAMBOO CAN PLAY
AN IMPORTANT
ROLE IN RURAL DEVELOPMENT* ADVANTAGE 1
ADVANTAGE 2
Bamboo grows fast. After four to six years, it can be used for the production of timber and edible shoots. The short rotation cycles have similar land and labour productivity levels as agricultural crops. This makes bamboo an economically attractive land-use option for farmers.
Bamboo can be managed with very few agricultural inputs, even on small areas of land unsuitable for agricultural crops. This provides a low-maintenance and regular source of income for smallholder farmers and households.
ADVANTAGE 3
ADVANTAGE 4
Bamboo’s root system helps bind soil and prevents erosion.
Bamboo, with its lightweight and linear-splitting nature, is comparatively easier to process than timber. This provides farmers, who are often women, with opportunities to engage in initial processing and increase their role in value addition.
ADVANTAGE 5
ADVANTAGE 6
Bamboo has multiple arrays of high-value end-uses such as laminated plywood, flat pack furniture and activated charcoal. This allows for non-competing diversification of production within a region.
Markets for bamboo are growing rapidly as many countries have an increasingly insufficient capacity for wood production. Bamboo is a very versatile and highly effective substitute for timber.
(*INBAR working paper 63) “Throughout the world, bamboo is considered to be the most economically efficient plant material for manufactured and crafted goods,” Professor Jiang Zehui.
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PROGRESS BY
ECDC & PARTNERS 1
There has been significant progress over the past year with ECDC continuing to fund various bamboo initiatives including implementing two small bamboo value-adding projects. ECDC has also secured R3 million to plant over 110 hectares. Amathole Economic Development Agency t/a Aspire recently commenced funding a small plantation near Butterworth.
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Furthermore, IDC has completed its high level business plan which outlines bamboo opportunities and has commenced drafting the Bamboo Industry Developmental Plan.
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The interim bamboo steering committee has been established and met four times.
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Other milestones include the world’s first carbon registration, the sponsorship by ECDC and the IDC of an agricultural honours student to specialise in this area and the start of talks so that South Africa can become a member of the International Network for Bamboo and Rattan.
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There have also been developments in relation to training, regulatory issues and bamboo’s inclusion in the fourth Industrial Policy Action Plan.
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Lastly, the Department of Trade and Industries has expressed an interest to consider funding certain activities of a national bamboo body.
t s r i F d l r o W FOR SOUTH AFRICA
Food & Trees and project delivery partners, Renewable Energy Solutions, registered the first internationally verified carbon standard bamboo sequestration project, Bamboo for Africa. Bamboo for Africa targets the triple bottom line investment strategy of corporate South Africa by addressing climate change, human capital development, consumer products and clean energy solutions.
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ECDC invites interested parties to contact ECDC’s Risk Capital Unit on + 27 (0) 43 704 5606 or projects@ecdc.co.za.