Feeling famished? Munch on bamboo

Are you going hungry? Well, you need not suffer from hunger pangs any more if you have bamboo growing on your farm or in a nearby forest.

This is the message farmers got at the Kenya Forestry Research Institute headquarters in Muguga, Nairobi during an open day.

The message was explicit: diversify your menu to include the giant grass to stave off hunger pangs.

With more than 10 million Kenyans either going hungry or surviving on a single meal a day, scientists now tout bamboo as a food option.

Bamboo is regularly eaten in Japan and in Far East countries but is a new food concept in Kenya.

To drive the point home, the scientists in Muguga prepared a meal of bamboo shoots which they said could rival the much-loved potato chips.

But Mr Peter Kungu, a technologist, cautioned the attentive farmers that not all types of bamboo shoots are edible. Some contain cyanide, a highly toxic chemical that can kill within hours.

Just like cassava tubers, the shoots of some bamboo species need to be boiled before they can be eaten safely.

“Depending on the variety, bamboo is very safe for human consumption. However, people should not mistake this to mean every bamboo shoot is edible,” said Mr Kungu.

Bamboo is the world’s fastest-growing plant and has been known to surge skyward as much as 121 cm in 24 hours.

Unlike trees, all bamboo species can grow to full height and girth in a single growing season of three to four months.

And Dr Ben Chikamai, the Kefri director, says there are plans to promote suitable bamboo species among farmers that the institute has introduced into the country.

He said there were plans to introduce the bamboo at Londiani, Maseno, Kitui, Kedi and Muguga and Karura in Nairobi.

Bamboo shoots are used in numerous Asian dishes and broths and are available in supermarkets in various sliced forms, both fresh and canned.

Fermented bamboo shoots form an important ingredient in cuisines across the Himalayas.

In Nepal, a delicacy popular across ethnic boundaries consists of bamboo shoots fermented with turmeric and oil, and cooked with potatoes into a dish that usually accompanies rice.

In Indonesia, bamboo shoots are thinly sliced and boiled with “santan”, a thick coconut milk, and spices to make a dish called “gulai rebung”.

Other recipes using bamboo shoots are “sayur lodeh” (mixed vegetables in coconut milk) and “lun pia” (fried wrapped bamboo shoots with vegetables).

Mr Ely Mwanza, Kefri’s Muguga Regional Research Centre director, said in addition to consuming the shoots, farmers can also use bamboo as animal feed and to purify water.

Being antibacterial and antifungal, bamboo charcoal can purify tap water to a mineral water-like taste.

“The benefits of bamboo are huge. We need to encourage farmers to grow it on their farms to boost incomes as well as help slow down the impact of climate change,” he said.

About 1.5 billion people worldwide use bamboo for their daily lives and over 20 million tonnes of the plant is harvested and utilised annually.

People in rural areas and the poor are the major users of bamboo, widely known as a “poor man’s timber”.

Although it occupies only 1-3 per cent of the total tropical and sub-tropical forest area, including trees outside forest lands, bamboo contributes between 4 to 7 per cent of the total tropical and subtropical timber trade.

Global bamboo trade is estimated to be worth between $1.5 billion and $2.5 billion.

Bamboo has many uses and is now being widely used in many countries to make clothes, furniture, floors, paper, kitchen utensils and enough items to furnish an entire house.

Although it is gaining popularity because of its numerous uses, bamboo faces the risk of overharvesting and the United Nations has warned that about half of the 1,200 varieties in the world are extinct or in danger of being completely eradicated.

Bamboo can easily compete with the most effective wood species in terms of carbon sequestration capacities.

Bamboo plants take in four times as much carbon dioxide as hardwood trees — 62 tonnes per 2.4 acres against 16 tonnes per 2.4 acres — and put out 35 per cent more oxygen.

Greenhouse gas

The Kyoto Protocol, which came into force in 2005, promotes the Clean Development Mechanism, an arrangement allowing industrialised countries with a greenhouse gas reduction commitment to invest in ventures that reduce emissions in developing countries as an alternative to more expensive emission reductions in their own countries.

Over 80 per cent of the total area covered by bamboo is located in Asia, 10 per cent in Africa and 10 per cent in America.

About 30 per cent of bamboo may be classified as forest plantations versus 3.8 per cent of wood plantations.

According to the FAO/International Network for Bamboo and Rattan global thematic study, over 63 per cent of bamboo resources are privately owned with 36 per cent owned by governmental entities. In comparison 80 per cent of all world forests are on public land.