Assessment of importance and adaptation to bamboo planting in Mukono district.

Abstract

Bamboo is an evergreen perennial, giant, woody and rapid growing fibrous plant widely distributed on the earth. It can be an available, scalable solution to some of Uganda‟s pressing development challenges as in other countries, but there is a gap in bamboo adaptation in the country. This study used Mukono as an example and it was chosen because of market availability near Kampala for the bamboo products. The general objective of the study was to document the importance and adoption of bamboo in Uganda with Mukono district as a case study. Mukono district has 13 sub-counties which include; Goma, Kkome islands, Nabaale, Nama, Seeta-namuganga, Kasawo, Kyampisi, Nagojje, Ntengeru, Kimenyedde, Mukono Tc, Nakisunga and Ntunda. All the farmers growing bamboo in these sub-counties were interviewed randomly using the questionnaire surveys. Direct observation was done for the products done from bamboo and literature review was done to provide secondary data for the study. The results indicated that there were seven bamboo species planted in Mukono district with Bambusa vulgaris vitata and Bambusa vulgaris being the most common. The other species were Bambusa bamboos, Oxytenanthera abbysinica, Bambusa polymorpha, Dendercalamus asper and Phyllostachys aurea. The most used method of propagation was the culm cuttings, followed by use of rhizomes, seeds and layering. The major source of bamboo planting material is the nurseries under NFA, though most farmers accessed the seedlings through donations from non-government organizations like INBAR. Most bamboo planted by the farmers was used for fencing around their homes. When harvested, the bamboo was further processed to make toothpicks, for construction, charcoal, textiles, crafts, pulp and paper in the Bamboo Uganda processing facility in Mukono. One thing that greatly motivated the farmers to plant bamboo was the free seedlings offered by non-government organizations to grow the bamboo. The major challenge faced is low funding received from the government itself, low training and boost of the market for bamboo products. It was recommended that further experimental studies should be done to investigate the survival percentage of the bamboo subjected to ground or simple layering, air layering or marcotting, stump layering and seedling layering. Government should also sponsor trainings for processing techniques of bamboo products as well as improve the market base for the products so as to boost the farmer‟s morale towards growing of bamboo.