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

5 CONCLUSIONS
INBAR is concerned with whether and how sustainable development can be
achieved through research and development in the bamboo and rattan sectors. In its
first phase, the Socio-economic Research Program of INBAR executed a number of
studies to help answer these questions. A series of database studies collated available
quantitative and qualitative data on the bamboo and rattan sectors in five Asian
countries. This information was then used as basis to create a framework for an
international database. A series of case studies was undertaken to examine the range
of existing bamboo and rattan production-to-consumption systems and to derive from
them lessons that can be generalized. These studies used a Production-to-Consumption
Systems (PCS) approach as the framework for making comparisons across different
systems. The PCS approach focuses attention on the market, with emphasis on the
linkages between transformation points and among firms at any particular
transformation point.
An overview of the general findings from a series of 11 PCS studies conducted
on a range of bamboo and rattan systems illustrates the utility of the approach. The
studies revealed that price competition is relatively weak in most of the PCS studied;
formal and informal contracts and personal relationships are much more important.
These contract arrangements are particularly important at the raw material trading
stage. Collectors and even growers of bamboo and rattan tend to have poor bargaining
positions. This weakness at the producer level is compounded by weak horizontal
organization at that stage, and stronger horizontal organization at higher levels in
the system.
These conditions conspire to limit the incentives for sustainable resource
management. The studies showed very little effort to intensify management practices
at the raw material production stage among current gatherers. Existing traditional
rattan cultivation systems are being threatened by declining prices and, in some
areas, increased opportunity cost. Plantation development for both bamboo and rattan
is most commonly found under private management, and by companies that have the
capacity to do it on a larger scale. However, under conditions of expanding market
opportunity, such as in the China study, small-scale farmers respond with increased
raw material production through intensification.
● There is a need to improve the bargaining power of raw material producers.
Market information is poorly available to participants in most of the PCS studied.
Improved market information might help. Stronger horizontal linkages at the
early stages in a PCS could also help increase the bargaining power of producers
and local traders. Project or policy interventions could seek to encourage associations
at this level. The experience of the rattan gatherers associations in the Philippines
provides a useful model. Some of these associations have been effective in
consolidating their bargaining power, and also in taking on some extra functions
and thus effecting more value addition.
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