Growing bamboo to provide an affordable source of energy

By Muhaise 21/03/2024

Sources of cooking energy

According to the Uganda Bureau of Statistics (UBOS) report 2021, 94% of Uganda households use biomass for cooking.

Biomass is renewable organic materials that come from plants and animals.

Further analysis indicates that 73% and 21% of Ugandan households use firewood and charcoal respectively for cooking.

Other sources including electricity, kerosene, LPG, and bio-fuels provide energy only to 6% of the households. The households obtain biomass energy through countrywide haphazard felling of trees.

The felling of trees for both cooking energy and timber has unfortunately contributed to the depletion of Uganda’s forest cover from 29% in 2010 to 12.4 % in 2022.

As a result of the above both the urban and rural communities are finding it quite expensive to use firewood and charcoal for cooking as the supply is decreasing becoming limited.

Mitigation strategy

It takes over 15 years for most species of trees to mature to produce both timber and firewood. The trees cannot therefore easily mature under the prevailing environment of the uncontrolled felling of trees for timber, firewood, and charcoal.

To restore Uganda’s forest cover will require aggressive reforestation efforts supported by a strict regulatory framework for environmental protection in addition to providing an alternative source of biomass energy to households.

Why grow bamboo?

The research done by different organizations shows that bamboo has many uses that cover environmental protection, the provision of cooking energy, and among others.

Bamboo is a fast-growing plant and matures in 3-5 years depending on the employed farming management practices. Therefore, growing bamboo can help Uganda’s reforestation efforts and can also provide an alternative and affordable material for cooking energy. Bamboo can be processed into a clean, sustainable, reliable, and affordable source of energy for Ugandan households using both modern and traditional charcoal processing methods.

Bamboo growing at Katubwe Village Farm

As an effort towards to reforestation of the country and provision of an alternative source of cooking energy, we have planted over 500 plants of bamboo for various purposes.

The bamboo on the farm is used for the following purposes among others;

Bamboo is processed using traditional methods to produce firewood and charcoal;
Bamboo is used in our furniture workshops to make beds, chairs tables, and food serving containers;
Bamboo poles can make floating bamboo rafts and

Temporary crossing bridges;

Young shoots of giant bamboo can be taken as food and
Bamboo is used in different construction works.

Suitable landscape

Bamboo can grow in most Ugandan landscapes including degraded, mountainous, sandy, stony, and sometimes water-logged land areas. All parts of Uganda are therefore suitable for growing bamboo.

Land preparation

Bamboo seedlings do not do very well if planted in a garden that is not very well prepared but bamboo can survive in the bush once it has matured.

The land should be prepared well in advance of planting bamboo seedlings. The bamboo does very well in moist, fertile, and free-draining areas.

Bamboo seedlings

The bamboo seedlings are readily available on the market but are too expensive for commercial farmers. Good bamboo seedlings range from Uganda shillings of 4,000 to 25,000 per seedling depending on the type and size of the seedling.

To save costs we were forced to propagate bamboo on the farm. We started with about 20 seedlings as part of the mother garden from which we obtained cuttings to propagate bamboo.

The bamboo is propagated either with cuttings from the culms, the main stalks of the bamboo, or the rhizomes, which are the root system. Propagating bamboo using the roots is best suited for running bamboo.

Bamboo spacing

Giant bamboo species require spacing of about 7 by 7 meters and small species require only 4 meters by 4 meters.

The hole dug should be at least twice the size of the pot the seedlings have come in and should be at least six inches deeper than the size of the pot. The hole should be bigger in case the bamboo is being planted on degraded land.

Bamboo planted on degraded land requires some animal manure or fertilizers to help it in the early stages of growing.

Bamboo maintenance

The young bamboos have to be regularly watered unless they are planted during the rainy season. There is a need for spot weeding and slushing to keep the bamboo garden clean. There is a bit of pruning required as the bamboo matures to avoid it being too bushy.

Therefore, the bamboos have to be properly looked after when they are still young to prevent the seedlings from competing for nutrients with weeds.

Bamboo species

On our farm, we are promoting about ten species of bamboo including green bamboo (Dendrocalamus asper), yellow bamboo (Bambusa Vulgaris), black bamboo, running bamboo, and giant bamboo (Dendrocalamus giganteus) among others. There are plans to introduce more species on the farm.

Wind barrier

Bamboo is a very flexible plant that will bend and sway in the strongest wind speeds with only the very youngest culms suffering damage. They are likely to bend in the wind as opposed to blowing over.

Bamboos can bend to ground level under the weight of heavy rains, and high winds, then straighten back up to their full height once the conditions have eased. Bamboos are therefore very good as wind barriers.

Market for bamboo

The demand for bamboo is still dormant because people in rural areas are not aware of its many uses. Awaking the demand is a matter of making people aware of the uses of bamboo.

For example, people around the farm are already aware of the importance of bamboo but they do not have land to plant it.