The Bamboo and Rattan Sectors in Asia: an Analysis of ... - INBAR

The study in Indonesia produced two reports. The first, focusing on statistical
information and policy issues and authored by Nasendi (1994), shows the high levels
of rattan production in Indonesia, the world's leading producer of rattan. As early as
1968, Indonesia produced more than 40.7 million tons, mainly for export. This increased
to a high of 199.1 million tons in 1987. A ban on the export of unprocessed rattan
implemented in 1987 led to a drastic fall in exports and production. Domestic
processing capacity has increased steadily since the ban, to the point that raw material
production was back to about 145 million tons by 1992. Rattan finished products,
including furniture, handicrafts and various kinds of mats, have become important
export products, earning US$293 million annually. The furniture industry has seen
the largest gains, growing from US$45 million in 1988 to US$240 million in 1992. This
translates into considerable employment generation; more than 150 000 persons are
estimated as employed in rattan products manufacturing. This number includes only
those in the formal sector and therefore underestimates considerably the total
employment. The second report by Sinung and Satria (1996) is a comprehensive review
of the literature concerning all aspects of the bamboo and rattan sectors in Indonesia.
The review includes a large number of publications that were available only in the
gray literature, and many of them in Bahasa Indonesia.
These studies, apart from providing valuable indications of the size and
importance of bamboo and rattan sectors in several Asian countries, have highlighted
the weaknesses in the available data. As Pabuayon and Espanto noted in their review
from the Philippines, a country with one of the best data sets, the analysis was
limited because of:
"...lack of updated forest inventory after 1987; lack of uniform units of
measurement and existence of large gaps between years for some of the time series
and statistical data; under reporting in official production/harvest statistics; noncomparability
of findings on some economic data (prices, costs, profits, etc.) since
these studies were conducted at different time periods... unclear specifications of
units of measurement in some research studies/theses; and a lack of standard grading
and classification system for raw materials."
These same problems were present, and sometimes more pronounced, in all the
other counties studied. An INBAR/Indonesian Ministry of Forestry Workshop on
Rattan Socio-economics (4-5 November 1996) also noted the 'data problem' as a major
constraint in efforts to analyse policy and to design strategies for developing the
sector.
A subsequent activity at the University of the Philippines at Los Baños has
collated and standardized the information from the first round of studies in a report
entitled Bamboo and Rattan Database: Selected Asian Countries (by Isabelita M. Pabuayon
and Leina H. Espanto). Further work is required to gather information in other
important bamboo and rattan producing countries. Also, action is required to estimate
global demand and demand trends to help set research and development policies in
these sectors. These are issues that INBAR will address in coming years.
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