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

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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. 77
● The issue of property rights always emerges. Without secure tenure for raw material producers, there is no incentive for sustainable resource management, or for resource enhancement, and raw material producers have much stronger bargaining positions. ● There is also scope for technical interventions. In many cases, there is need for improved planting material and planting models that are suitable for smallholders. The models need not be plantation-based. There are intermediate models of rattan cultivation that offer great potential. These intermediate approaches have received no attention to date. Research emphasis has been on purely extractive systems at the one extreme or on intensive plantation management at the other extreme. Small-holder bamboo management, especially as a part of agro-forestry systems, also has strong potential. ● Policy measures have, if anything, discouraged low-intensity and mediumintensity rattan production. A range of institutional and technical interventions is needed to realize the potential of intermediate production systems. The studies identified a number of policy constraints. ● There is also great scope for improvement at the processing stages. Although there are some capital-intensive, mechanized processing enterprises in some industries ---- rattan furniture, various processed bamboo products ---- small-scale manufacturers and sub-contractors account for the largest numbers and the most disadvantaged people. As the Java rattan PCS study showed, smaller-scale enterprises tend to have lower benefit-cost ratios ---- they are less efficient and/ or unable to access higher value-added markets. The reasons for this are similar to those faced by raw material producers ---- weak bargaining positions, limited access to information and technology, relatively poor quality of output and poor market access. The Anji County case showed the great potential in bamboo processing, an area that has been barely been tapped. ● Absolute raw material shortages are an issue in the rattan sector and, regionally, in the bamboo sector. It is likely to become more serious in the future as resource bases are depleted and, especially in the bamboo sector, as demand increases for industrial raw material. This will result in hardship for small-scale handicraft and subsistence users as prices rise and raw material becomes less available. It may also act as a brake on further development. 78
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The Bamboo and Rattan Sectors in As
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ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS This assessment wo
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FOREWORD A review of the bamboo and
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that would be useful and applicable
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2 DATABASE STUDIES One of the first
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The study in Indonesia produced two
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and opportunities throughout the sy
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information sharing, to consolidate
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amboo products. There are tradition
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egular clients and relatives. Brahm
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utilization plan. Forest Department
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and storage containers are sometime
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There also appears to be scope to r
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and many districts in other parts o
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Constraints and opportunities This
Page 31 and 32: The PCS The main market participant
Page 33 and 34: A large amount of bamboo also 'leak
Page 35 and 36: entrepreneur as the key agent and p
Page 37 and 38: Many of the small bamboo stands are
Page 39 and 40: Plantation development The authors
Page 41 and 42: households to be managed as family
Page 43 and 44: Products such as several kinds of m
Page 45 and 46: Currently, rattan produced in Laos
Page 47 and 48: The villagers go to the forest for
Page 49 and 50: Constraints and opportunities There
Page 51 and 52: ● Provincial traders ● Semi-pro
Page 53 and 54: For example, rattan cutting permits
Page 55 and 56: Recommendations include: 1. Develop
Page 57 and 58: .......... ➤ Consumer Marketing M
Page 59 and 60: Laborers in the semi-processing fac
Page 61 and 62: and reduced transaction costs downs
Page 63 and 64: Rattan farmers grow rattan as one o
Page 65 and 66: Rattan is sold by weight in Indones
Page 67 and 68: Rattan in Java, Indonesia: a Case S
Page 69 and 70: 1. Scarcity of daily workers; 2. Li
Page 71 and 72: aw material, trading of raw materia
Page 73 and 74: 4 DISCUSSION The studies, carried o
Page 75 and 76: that they might be able to get for
Page 77 and 78: trend is the increasing use of subs
Page 79 and 80: to do replacement planting, and the
Page 81: Technical Issues While the SE progr
Page 85 and 86: technology development and farmer-m
Page 87 and 88: Policy Constraints Studies have ide
Page 89: BIBLIOGRAPHY Anonymous. 1996. Value
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The Bamboo and Rattan Sectors in Asia: an Analysis of ... - INBAR

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