Grant pushes for bamboo production

Daraine Luton, Senior Staff Reporter

SENATOR NORMAN Grant wants the Government to hand-pick farmers for the production of bamboo, and to create for them a line of funding which will help in the cultivation of the grass.

In moving a motion in the Senate yesterday, Grant said Jamaica stands to reap rich rewards from the production of high-value bamboo products. He said that appropriate steps should be taken to ensure that the country picks what he deemed a low-hanging fruit.

The senator, who is also president of the Jamaica Agricultural Society (JAS), said a task force on bamboo production which has been established at the Bureau of Standards, should be strengthened to ensure that Jamaica reaps the benefits from bamboo. He, however, did not outline the ways in which the committee at the Bureau is failing to deliver on its current mandate.

Dismissed by Montague

While his fellow government senators sided with him on the issue, Grant's motion was dismissed by Robert Montague, an opposition senator.

"The task force that he is seeking is already in place, the finished product factory that he is seeking is already in place," Montague, a former agriculture minister, said.

Montague noted that there was a pilot project for 1,000 chairs in the school system to be constructed with bamboo being a critical component. He also noted that a factory in St Catherine had imported equipment for the processing of high-value bamboo.

"Where I believe we ought to be going is to utilise the bamboo more in our local yam industry and for the protection of our hillsides against erosion," Montague said.

But Angela Brown Burke, a government senator, said Montague should broaden his horizon. She said Jamaica should seek to make money from the grass though value-added products. "What we want to do is to go up the value chain in the development of this industry," she said.