KUALA LUMPUR: The Plantation and Commodities Ministry plans to increase the land area for bamboo plantation by using the 420,000 hectares of abandoned rubber plantation fields.
Its minister Datuk Seri Johari Abdul Ghani said the acreage for bamboo plantation currently stands at 4,000 hectares, thus more land is needed to accommodate the plant's commercialisation.
He explained that limited land is one of the main constraints in commercialising bamboo on a large scale given that the acreage required for any commercial initiative should not be less than 2,000 hectares.
"The bamboo industry is also operated on a small scale where more than 90 per cent of entrepreneurs are involved in the production of handicrafts.
"To realise its potential, the industry needs to be seen not just as making handicrafts, but also as a sustainable alternative source for plastic or paper to produce products such as food containers, toilet tissue and straws," he said.
Johari said the country's export value of bamboo jumped 39 per cent to RM20.1 million in 2023 from RM14.5 million in 2022. Bamboo imports were valued at RM108.8 million last year.
According to him, the industry has great potential to generate income for the national economy as it can meet the world market's demand for sustainable timber products.
He said the global bamboo industry was worth US$70.6 billion in 2023 and is expected to grow to US$97.8 billion by 2028 - a growth of nearly 7.0 per cent annually over this period.
"Despite the good development of the local bamboo industry, the export of Malaysian bamboo products is still low compared to other major exporting countries such as China, the European Union and the Philippines," he added.
Johari said this in his speech during an inaugural ceremony of National Bamboo Seminar in conjuction with Malaysia's World Bamboo Day 2024 celebration here today.
Speaking at a press conference later, he said Malaysia has about 1.1 million hectares of rubber plantation but 420,000 hectares are not cultivated because of the ageing smallholders while their children are university-educated.
"So we see that there are two measures such as urging the private sector to do consolidation for us to tap rubber again... or if they don't want to grow rubber, we give it to the furniture industry players for us to work on bamboo plants, and these plants are easy to take care of," he added.
Johari said the Malaysian Timber Industry Board (MTIB) has been instructed to carry out research and development (R&D) in relation to products that can be produced from bamboo species in the country and will cooperate with state governments in developing the industry.
He said the ministry, through MTIB, has implemented various initiatives to boost the industry's growth such as human capital development programmes, non-woven product development studies from bamboo fibres and technical advisory services.