Bamboo Value Chain Assessment in Khammouan Province October 05 ‐ 15, 2008
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‐ Bamboo Value Chain Assessment in Khammouan Province October 05 ‐ 15, 2008 Prepare d by: Enterprise & Development Consultants Co., Ltd Buakhai Phimmavong, Vila Chanthavong and SNV NTFP Team Submit to: Netherlands Development Organization (SNV) Date: 25 March, 2009 i Abstracts This Bamboo Value Chain Assessment conducted in Khammouan province aims at assessing the current situation of the bamboo handicraft production and sales in the province, including the major opportunities and constraints faced by the actors in the chain, services and key policy issues to be developed and addressed, respectively, assessing the roles of actors and its linkages in the chain and identifying approaches and potential intervention activities for SNV to help promoting the sector in the province. The field work was conducted in October 2008 in 5 districts in the province and also in the neighboring provinces – Quang Binh (Vietnam) and Nakhonephranom (Thailand). Out of 5 districts, it is found that bamboo handicraft products are made most in Thakhek, Mahaxay and Hinboun districts. They are sold in the provincial and district markets and also transported to other provinces such as Savannakhet, Champasak and Vientiane Capital. The business network from producers to the market has been well established for many years. On another hand, in other districts such as Boualapha and Yommalad, the production mainly serves the household consumption. Among few other bamboo stuff, the main bamboo products that are found in this study are sticky rice boxes, rice trays, fish baskets (¢Éº¤) and other household appliances such as ¹¸©-, ´¸¨, -À¢ñ-¤. So far, the bamboo products from Khammouane are being exported in the form of semi-woven products only to Nakhonephranom - Thailand, but not to Quangbinh - Vietnam. The main actors in the bamboo chain include the raw bamboo suppliers, group and individual handicraft producers, wholesalers and retailers/vendors in the provincial and district markets, a Thai importer and end-users. The existing supporting agencies in the province are DoIC, PAFO and the LWU. The relationship among the key actors within the bamboo handicraft value chain in Khammouan province is more or less a market-based type, for instance, the price of the 2 main products - rice basket and rice tray, is normally decided by the buyers and producers and fluctuates seasonally. The bamboo handicraft sector plays an important role in terms of income generation and jobs for the local people. The constraints of each actor have been identified, based on which four resulting main strategies to address the constraints are formed, which are (1) Raising awareness on bamboo resource management among the relevant Government policies and regulations, (2) ii Improving production and design skills for village producers, (3) Dissemination of information on technology, market, production capacity to local producers, traders and all interested buyers, and (4) Building business attitude of villager producers. Following the SNV’s overall strategy in creating impacts on Productivity–Income– Employment (PIE), all 4 strategies should be considered to be implemented parallel. In terms of location and products to be promoted in Khammouane province, it is recommended that for the domestic market, the production of the rice box and rice tray in Thakhek (Ban Phositha, Nayawai) and Mahaxay (Ban Sangphok) districts has the highest potentials in terms of the number of people involved, the significance of the income generated from the products, the skill level of the producers and the business operation, which has been rather well established. At the same time, the business cooperation with the Thai trader from Khamtao Handicraft – Nakhonephanom can be further explored for exporting the similar products. Working with Nakhonephanom’s Chamber of Commerce or Trade Promotion Agency is also useful to identify more Thai traders, who are interested to work with Lao producers. In terms of exploring new products for the new market, the nice souvenir stuff that the producers have started to produce under the LWU-UNIFEM project can be introduced to hotels, handicraft souvenir shops in Thakhek town, in the tourism sites within province and Thai market through Thai traders. iii Table of Contents Abstracts .....................................................................................................................ii Table of Contents.......................................................................................................iv Acronyms ...................................................................................................................vi Part I: Introduction...................................................................................................... 1 Background to the study...................................................................................................... 1 Study Objectives ................................................................................................................. 2 Study Scope ........................................................................................................................ 2 Study Methodologies........................................................................................................... 3 Expected Outputs of the Study............................................................................................ 3 Part II: Khammouan province bamboo sector ............................................................ 4 Overview of the Study Site .................................................................................................. 4 Bamboo Handicraft Sector in Khammouan Province .......................................................... 4 Bamboo Value Chain Map............................................................................................... 5 Bamboo Suppliers ........................................................................................................... 7 Bamboo handicraft producers.......................................................................................... 7 Local traders .................................................................................................................... 7 Wholesalers ..................................................................................................................... 7 Retailers /Mobile Vendors................................................................................................ 8 Foreign Traders ............................................................................................................... 8 Stakeholders Relationship................................................................................................. 10 Cost and profit ................................................................................................................... 10 Employment ...................................................................................................................... 11 Business Environment....................................................................................................... 15 Provincial Department of Industry of Commerce (PDIC) ............................................... 15 Provincial Agriculture and Forest Office (PAFO) ........................................................... 15 Lao Women’ Union (LWU)............................................................................................. 16 iv Provincial Tourism Department (PTD)........................................................................... 16 Bamboo Shoot................................................................................................................... 16 Bamboo Woven Mats (Katae) ........................................................................................... 17 Part III: Market Opportunities, Key Constraints and Market - Based Solutions ........ 17 Market Opportunities ......................................................................................................... 17 Key Constraints ................................................................................................................. 18 Raw bamboo suppliers .................................................................................................. 18 Producers ...................................................................................................................... 19 Wholesalers / retailers / vendors ................................................................................... 19 Foreign Traders ............................................................................................................. 23 Market - based solutions ................................................................................................... 23 Part IV: Recommended Strategies.......................................................................... 29 Strategy 1: Raising awareness on bamboo resource management in the relevant Government policies and regulations ................................................................................ 23 Strategy 2: Improvement of production and design skills of producers............................. 25 Strategy 3: Dissemination of information on technology, market, production capacity to local producers, traders and all interested buyers............................................................. 26 Strategy 4: Building the business attitude of village producers ........................................