Tanglin P.O. Box 101 Singapore 9124 REPUBLIC of SINGAPORE
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•' IDR.C BAMBOO/RATTAN NETWORK Tanglin P.O. Box 101 Singapore 9124 REPUBLIC OF SINGAPORE Newsletter No. 9 August, 1989 Dear Network Scientists/Project Leaders workshops and publication of proceed ings. Some of you have met him and his Greetings! wife, Dr. Usha, at the November 1988 Cochin Bamboo Workshop where both of I am very pleased to send you this them presented their work on Bamboo particular Newsletter as this contains Tissue Culture. He will operate from three important announcements. his base in Delhi and make frequent visits to the IDRC Singapore Office and The first one is the appointment of the your projects. I am sure you will all new Bamboo/Rattan Network Coordinator. join me in welcoming Dr. Rao to the I am pleased to advise that Dr. I. V. Network family. Ramanuja Rao, Research Scientist B, (Reader) from the Department of Botany, The Second announcement relates to the University of Delhi, Delhi 110007, attached article by Punya Poudyal on India, has agreed to take the mantle Rattan and Bamboo Resources and their from Dr Dhanarajan, who accepted a Utilization in the South Pacific. senior position with the Open Learning Given the present scarcity of bamboo/ Institute of Hongkong. Dr. Rao will rattan resources in the region, this work closely with Prof. A.N. Rao, an article will be of interest to all of Emeritus Professor who does not need us. Punya can be reached at the introduction to the Network, and myself following address if you wish to in coordinating the network activities. contact him for further information: Dr Rao is the recipient of the 'Young Mr. Punya p. Poudyal Scientist Medal' ( 1982) by the Indian G.P.O. Box 4487 National Science Academy in recognition Kathmandu of his outstanding work in the area of NEPAL Plant Physiology. He was also selected as "Young Associate" (1983) of the The last announcement concerns the Indian Academy of Sciences in recogni latest Network publication on "A Guide tion of outstanding contributions in to the Collection of Bamboo" which is biology. He is an outstanding scient enclosed. McClure originally publish ist and has over 30 refereed papers to ed this article in Chinese in 1941 and his credit in diverse areas of plant it was rediscovered by Prof. Krikorian physiology, biochemistry, genetics and.. of the State University of New York, tree improvement. He brings with him who got an English tran~lation done. not only a solid research background You will note that McClure's guidelines but also extensive experience in are as valid today as when they were organising scientific meetings/ first prepared. I hope you will all IDRC B/R Newsletter No. 9 2 August, 1989 enjoy reading this and Punya' s report is as follows: as much as I did. Bamboo Society of India With warmest regards to each and 23-24 Mezzanine Floor everyone of you. Jayanagar Shopping Ca~~>lex Bangalore-560011 INDIA C.B. Sastry In a large way, the IDRC Bamboo Rattan Network has promoted its formation for it was during the Third International Fellow Bamboo and Rattan Scientists, Bamboo Workshop held at Cochin that the proposal was first made. Amongst other things, the society aims to collect and I am delighted to be a part of the disseminate information, knowledge and Network and look forward to the data on bamboo research, utilization, pleasure of knowing all of you market and trade through bulletins and personally. As you would notice, I publications. It will also serve as an have plunged headlong into the Network advisory body to assist individuals and activities with my involvement in the institutions on aspects of bamboo latest Network publication. As one who research and extension-related has worked with bamboos for nearly a activities. decade now, I know we share similar interests. For me, it is an article of There is also some light at the other faith that good and more research on end of the tunnel. The proceedings of bamboos and rattans is the ultimate the Cochin Workshop on Bamboos are solution towards improving the quality taking shape. I have taken over as of life of millions of rural folk in senior editor and we are making all the Asian countries who depend on these efforts to see that the book is in your groups of plants for their livelihood. hands before the year is over. Some good news from India! I am happy Best of luck! to inform you that the Bamboo Society of India has been constituted in February, 1989. The Society's address I. V. Ramanuja Rao IDRC B/R Newsletter No. 9 3 August, 1989 RATTAN AND BAMBOO RESOURCES AND 'l'HEIR UTILIZATION IN 'l'HE soom PACIFIC by Punya P. Poudyal It is a great pleasure for me to avail this opportunity to prepare this guest newsletter. As a Nepalese Scientist/Forester and United Nations Volunteer, I have worked for 4 years in Western Samoa, another 4 years in Vanuatu, and a year in Papua New Guinea in the South Pacific. The South Pacific extends over 29 million square kilometers with a land area of only about 500,000 sq. km. It is said (Anon. 1989) that there are about 2,000 different types of ecosystems in this region, which have supported the evolution of unique species and communities of plants and animals not found elsewhere in the world. The maintenance of environmental quality and conservation of vital natural resources which support their lifestyle, are of great importance to the people of the island nations. In this article I have covered bamboo and rattan growing in Papua New Guinea, Solomon Islands, Vanuatu and Fiji and only bamboo in Western Samoa, American Samoa, Cook Islands, Niue and New Caledonia. PAPUA NEW GUINEA ( PNG) PNG extends from the equator to 12°S latitude and from 141 to 160°E. longitude. The total land area is 461,690 square kilometers. The population in July 1983 was about 3,192,000. Port Moresby, the national capital, has a dry climate with a rainfall of 1,195mm per annum. However, there is a regular and generally high annual rainfall in PNG (average 2, OOOmm, maximum 5, 080mm per annum) . The average coastal temperature ranges between 21 oc to 32 . 2oC. The mountainous areas can be cool to very cold (Carter, 1984). About 40 million hectares of land are covered by the rain forest in PNG (Anon 1988c). A considerable amount of rattan is said to occur in 19 million ha. of forest. Since the "land" belongs to the tribes, the plants also belong to them. Hence, extraction of forest material must be consented to in advance by its owner. Species of trees, rattan, sandalwood, cinnamomum, etc. , .ar.e harvested on a commercial scale from the forest. PNG' s other items of export are: gold, copper, copra, cocoa, coffee, palm oil, rubber, tea, fish, etc. IDRC B/R Newsletter No. 9 4 August, 1989 Rattan There is no authentic report published on the total volume of rattan in PNG. Nevertheless, there certainly is considerable rattan in the forest with the coastal forests containing more rattan than in the mountains. Province-wise, the Gulf, East Sepik and Sandaun (West Sepik) provinces contain most of the stock. Species According to one report, "Rattans in Papuasia", there are 50 species of Calamus and two of Korthalsia available in PNG. Johns (1988) suggests 58 species of Calamus and two of Korthalsia, whereas Sabi ( 1987) recorded 50 species of Calamus. Essig reported 48 of Calamus and 2 of Korthalsia. Companies The Department of Forests has registered 36 companies (Anon. 1988a) to operate in rattan-processing. From the information available from the Division of Forest, Provincial Governments of the Gulf, Western, East Sepik and Sandaun provinces as well as from field visits, it was found that another 11 companies were in the process of registration, totalling 47. Similarly in 1988 the Department of Trade and Industry, Port Moresby, had issued licences to 30 companies (Anon. 1988b) to export rattan or rattan products. Through a telephone survey conducted in December 1988 it was determined that many of the processing and/or exporting companies had ceased their operation in rattan. Almost all were unanimous on two major issues: 1) The quality of PNG rattan was not good enough to meet the international standard, and 2) The local price was too high to compete in the international market. The first issue, however, is controversial. Practically, none of the registered exporting companies, or other companies that export rattan, conduct any quality test in PNG. The lack of technical knowledge on different stages of processing prevents them from determining and maintaining the quality. Several tons of rattan were overtaken by vines on the drying stands in Aitape, Sandaun province because the overseas importer had cancelled his orders on the grounds of "inferior quality". Tons of dried rattan were attacked by fungus in the open yard for too long in Wewak, East Sepik province. Tjeong (1989) said that after importing two container-loads of rattan (about 13 tons), the IDRC B/R Newsletter No. 9 5 August, 1989 importer cancelled the order. Hence, he ordered his people to use the already harvested rattan as firewood in Angoram district, East Sepik province. Depending upon the distance the companies collect rattan from and the price they pay to the land owners, the FOB per ton of rattan would be about US$450 (Quek, 1989). Another company (Jeppessen, 1988) demanded that the FOB should be US$800. But during the telephone survey most companies agreed that the appropriate FOB for one ton of PNG rattan would be between US$550 and US$650.