Samoa’s bamboo crusaders
Thursday, 17 July 2008
If you look back at my first blog, you will see a favourite picture from my childhood. It’s a shot of my brothers and me steadying a bamboo raft in the seas off the island of Ovalau in Fiji. I grew up with bamboo all around me being used for construction, Hindu ceremonies, and even “guns” during celebrations. It all still happens today. Head for any remote area in Fiji where there is a river and you’re likely to spot a “bilibili” or bamboo raft loaded with vegetables or cargo of some sort.
So when I found out that in Samoa, there was a project that aimed to introduce Samoans to bamboo cultivation, I was intrigued. I thought they already had bamboo everywhere in the Pacific.
According to Walter Vermeulen of the non-government organisation M.E.T.I (Matuaaileo Environment Trust Incorporated) there have only ever really been two species of bamboo “native” to Samoa (one was a Fijian variety). Neither has been used for anything other then fishing poles, decorative and other simple uses. And there are only a handful of groves around.
But the increased reliance on costly imported timber for construction has organisations searching for alternatives. And this has put the spotlight on bamboo. So my first day in Samoa was spent speaking to a group of bamboo enthusiasts and researchers who are working on cultivating what’s essentially a grass species, around this main island of Upolu.
Walter was one of the first in the country to promote the plant as an alternative crop for farmers to invest in. After speaking to visiting experts from Australia, China and elsewhere, he decided to promote the virtues of bamboo, convincing aid donors that this was a project worth investing in. They came to the party. The suitability of the tropical climate for cultivation, the versatility of bamboo as a construction material, a food and a cottage industry were factors hard to ignore.
As a result, there are now permaculture and tissue culture experts from Australia researching the suitability of particular clumping species and building stocks of cuttings. We actually introduced Walter to Michael Sweedman, a tissue culture technician, who was brought in to work on culturing bamboo at the University of the South Pacific (USP) Alafua Campus. Both were keen to point out the difference between ‘clumping’ bamboo and the notorious ‘running’ bamboo which takes over ecosystems.
From the USP labs full of sterile vials of tiny bamboo plants, we headed to Vailele village with Walter’s wife, Matatumua, one of the most passionate, generous souls I have encountered. “Mua” likened Vailele village’s role to that of a beacon.
Here, seedlings have been planted, and groves of clumping bamboo are being cultivated. At maturity, they will be harvested by Vailele village program manager Semau Iakopo who wants to build a house entirely of bamboo so others can see what can really be achieved.
He already has people from other villages lining up for seedlings. But he’s keeping close guard over the groves to ensure the bamboo isn’t pilfered before it’s fully established and ready for harvest, just 3 years after planting. He’s also determined to make sure his son Totolua learns the way of the bamboo. Because he is convinced this they will play an important role in guiding villagers all over the country to a prosperous future with this new crop.
