PI has developed its bamboo service capability to provice support to businesses and government. New partnerships with leading business and government actors in the Viet Nam and Lao PDR have led to new activities, new bamboo sales and jobs and the launching of important new policy and master planning processes

Technical Capability

PI has developed a storehouse of bamboo data and resources, such as the pressed bamboo prospectus, bamboo price monitors, and inventory analysis of resources in Viet Nam and Houaphanh. This information is available and is distributed on request.

PI has built up a strong network with the technical, policy and business experts in China, now facilitated by PI's new board member Professor Zhu Zhaohua, a world renowned bamboo authority and respected figure in China. PI's network enables tailored service provision to businesses and governments looking to implement new bamboo activities. PI's bamboo services are detailed at www.mekongbamboo.org

Government and Policy Partnerships

PI's has formal bamboo industry development partherships with 4 provinces in the subregion, namely Thanh Hoa in Viet Nam, Houaphanh, Vientiane and Champasak in Lao PDR, and Kampong Chnang in Cambodia. PI also has recently signed an MOU with the Department of Processing and Trade, within the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development in Viet Nam and is acting as technical advisor in the process to develop a new Master Plan and Policy. Further to this, PI's formal relationships in Viet Nam with the Centre for agricultural policy and with the Policy research centre have contributed to policy shaping in both countries.

Government relationships have been important in assisting our work, and to enable the business environment. PI has made progress in Industrial bamboo, bamboo shoots and bamboo handicrafts.

Industrial Bamboo Business Partnerships and Poverty Related Impact 

Through this and via PI's service capability, PI has been actively promoting business opportunities in the sector and has a developing business and investment pipeline, with 10 business partnerships which are at a mor advanced stage.

PI and field partners including GRET and Hadeva helped smaller processors during 2007 and 2008, but have subsequently shifted to stronger direct relationships with catalytic or lead firms. One partner firm, Bambooviet was the first major investment i(>$2M) in pressed bamboo and construction board in 2009. the investment arose through PI's initial promotion of the technology during one of its campaign events in 2008, and subsequent assistance to Bambooviet in linkages to Chinese equipment suppliers, support on know how, and marketing. By Jan 2010, this investment was processing >50 additional tonnes per day of raw bamboo, and PI's fieldwork with the firm demonstated that this was reaching a total of 11,000 beneficiaries,  in several poor provinces through those additional sales and jobs created. By May 2010, this figure had grown to 120tonnes/day of raw bamboo. Bambooviet's plans are to increase to 200tonnes/day. PI will conduct further impact assessments on Bambooviet in the future.

In addition PI is working with Bamboo Living a firm from the US and Vietbamboo a local Vietnamese firm with advanced plans for new processing facilities. Overall, PI's pipeline of 10 firms and growing represents a solid platform for increasing high value processing which creates jobs and creates upward pressure on raw bamboo prices - each to the benefit of the poor. 

PI is also working with local authorities on bamboo resource policy and with communities themselves to enable this push to a more sustainable, higher quality supply to underpin this new high value growth in the sector.

The important factor regarding this new demand is that these processors require aged, sustainable bamboo culms. It is planned that this demand for aged bamboo, coupled with stronger policies and support at the provincial and national levels will help overcome a current problem in the some areas (mainly luong in Thanh Hoa) of poor management and overharvesting of young culms. This trend is presently driven by lower value paper pulp and traditional construction markets which consume over 90% of the bamboo material. This low value demand provides a ready market for young bamboo and is worsened by the poverty trap that poor farmers find themselves in. Fortunately, new technologies such as pressed bamboo can utilise other species from other regions and also require aged bamboo. PI's bamboo production team from China and Viet Nam are now working with communities and authorities on chain of custody and contract supply solutions to secure higher productivity and sustainability for the benefit of poor farmers into the future.

Overall, PI's current pipeline of business partners (around 10 lead firms and growing) will take  take 3 to 5 years to come fully on stream, and by the end of this period would be consuming of the order of 10-20% of the current supply in Northern Viet Nam of around 1.6M tonnes/yr. If achieved, this level would be a major impact on the current level of around 3% of bamboo material going to high value output, and at this level PI expects would create a differentiated raw bamboo market for sustainable, aged bamboo.