Research and Development of the Production and Utilization of Bamboo in Taiwan, R.O.C.

Abstract

The r e are six major bamboo species in Taiwan. among them. makino bamboo is the most important one. moso bamboo and thorny bamboo the next. From 1975 to 1979. production of bamboo culms. bamboo shoot and their products increased significantly. The export value increased about 2.7 times, i. e. from 43 million U. S. dollars to 116 million U.S. dollars. The annual increasing rate was about 55% during, that period. Various products were exported to more than 80 countries and rendered a great gain to the foreign trade. Bamboo and its products have been now as the next important forest products besides timber in forestry in the Republic of China. Bamboo backed up agricultural production in several ways. Firstly. bamboo culms used for construction of 13.000 mushroom culture-sheds annually. Secondly, culms used for fruit tree supporting poles. such as banana. pear and apple supporting poles. Thirdly, bamboo was used for vegetable upholder and oyster raising sticks. The production value of the agricultural crops which backed by bamboo culms was morethan 200 million U. S. dollars. Therefore. bamboo has been one of the important materials in supporting agricultural production. This study also has reported the development of bamboo production and utilization. At the beginning, bamboo cuIms had been used extensively and directly. During the past decade, improvements were made. and which caused more intensive utilization of bamboo. At present time, the use of bamboo has been much more economical. As a result, more diversified products have been made. The new products are: plybamboo, weaving bamboo board. bamboo tray. bamboo blind, bamboo sports sword, laminated bamboo furniture. tennis racket and various handicrafts. Accordingly, the industry of bamboo products has a great potential in -the future. Besides, the bamboo processing industry is very suitable to be developed in the rural areas. With a view to match, the development of production and utilization of bamboo and bamboo related products. many researches were carried out during recent 10 years in Taiwan. The quantitative analyses, properties, processing and more efficient utilization of bamboo were carried out from different viewpoints. Development of laminated bamboo was one of the examples of successful studies. Its advanced studies continued and aimed at improving the manufacturing techniques of laminated bamboo furniture and enter its production into mass production phase.