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Watch our video Food & Trees for Africa is excited and delighted to announce that the new Bamboo for Africa programme, launched in September 2010 to coincide with our 20th birthday, is now internationally accredited through the Verified Carbon Standard as a Verified Emission Reduction programme. This is a greening, climate change response, corporate social investment, enterprise development and black economic empowerment programme. Carbon offset opportunity is offered at R75 per ton and the cost per plant which includes community training and support is R90. The proceeds from the accumulated carbon offsets are managed to support further community development programmes. The programme includes other plant materials that address economic development and food insecurity, that are intercropped in an agroforestry type planting that requires no fertiliser and little irrigation. Bamboo for Africa encourages capacity building in low income communities. Planting regimes ensure that community members are remunerated for planting and ensures the value added benefits are communicated to ensure longevity of the project. It also provides for a sustainable relationship where the community may become a supplier of goods to the donor in the form of materials or fuel. Donors or carbon offsetters have the opportunity to gain from the sustainably managed project in terms of biomass offset and further value added manufacturing in the community to support their own business requirements. Relevant government Departments of Agriculture and Social Welfare are engaged and provide the necessary support structure to ensure legislative compliance. Bamboo provides a high impact carbon sequestration opportunity with multi faceted community beneficiation and the programme is introduced to the community with plantings at public schools and on open/tribal land.
World's first bamboo carbon offset credits issued under the VCS
Renewable energy options
These are the ideal planting times, dependant on site and the long-term weather forecast for the area hold, so there is some leeway:
Three months notice is required before the intended planting dates. Contact This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it for more information. Frequently Asked Questions about Bamboo for Africa 1) Invasiveness This is a clumping bamboo, which means that although the clump can expand up to 5m in diameter over a period of 50 years, it does not send out underground shoots that pop out of the ground in unexpected places. As it does not have viable seeds, it cannot invade any area. 2) Water requirement The plant species is a dry savannah specie and grows well in areas with rainfall as low as 600mm without irrigation. Planting this species in wet or water logged areas is not advisable. Water is important during shooting season in the summer months. Total water requirement is 5000 l per year per clump. There are recoded plants growing as low as 250mm rainfall per annum, but that is the exception rather than the norm. 3) Soil requirement It does best in well drained soils with a PH between 4 and 7. Wet clay soils results in stunted growth and low culm production. 4) Climatic conditions The plant species grows well in temperatures between 20 ºC and 40ºC. It can withstand black frost temperatures as low as - 5 ºC without dying. 5) Why use bamboo as a carbon off-set It has a lifespan in excess of 100 years. Unlike trees, the bamboo not only has green leaves but also a green stem which means increased photosynthesis. Photosynthesis is a process that converts carbon dioxide into organic compounds, especially sugars, using the energy from sunlight. A single bamboo clump at 3 years old can sequester as much as 950Kg CO2. This is the highest rate for any soil grown plant. 6) How do communities benefit The bamboo provides high protein feed for the goats and cattle kept by the communities. The bamboo provides a fuel for cooking and heating instead of coal or cutting of indigenous trees. As a fast growing biomass source it opens up the opportunity for value added manufacture which offers a direct enterprise opportunity as an out-grower or participant in the manufacturing process. 7) Rat infestations The reason why India and China experience rat infestation is that in that country several bamboo species flower en mass and produce thousands of tons of seed. This provides a huge food source for the rats which results in mass breeding. The problem that follows the mass flowering is that all the bamboo clumps that flowered die within 12 – 24 months. This results in a huge shortage of bamboo shoots for eating. 8) Can we buy plants FTFA is not selling individual plants. Plant purchases are structured as follows for the planting programs: a. FTFA’s carbon projects as off-sets or donations to the less privileged. b. Community Enterprise Development multi-crop planting programs Interesting facts about bamboo!! 1. Bamboo charcoal will maintain a constant heat longer than hardwood charcoal. 2. In 1880 Thomas Edison filed a patent for an electric lamp device that included the following description: "Filament of carbon of high resistance, made of bamboo as described, and secured to metallic wires." 3. In Hiroshima, Japan the only plant to survive the radiation of the1945 atomic bomb was a bamboo. The incinerating heat destroyed trees and other plant life. Everything except one bamboo grove was destroyed. The grove has since been removed, but culms from the grove are preserved in a museum in Hiroshima. 4. Bamboo, when used as fire wood, produces more BTU per weight than hardwood and makes less ash. 5. Ethanol and liquid diesel can be produced using bamboo as the raw material. Diesel has been produced in South America since 1947. 6. During WWII bamboo was used as reinforcement for concrete instead of steel. Clemson University conducted research on bamboo as reinforcement for concrete until the mid 1950's. 7. Because of the strength to weight ratio of bamboo it was used for some of the first airplane designs. However, due to the difficulty of joining pieces at the time it lost out to other materials. 8. In 1902 bamboo was used as the stylus or needle for phonographs. 9. Bamboos grow from sea level to more than14,000 feet. 10. Bamboo leaves have approximately 6% silica content. 11. Bamboo can produce 2 to 6 times as much cellulose per acre as pine. Pine or mixed forests increase 2 to 5 percent per year in biomass. Groves of bamboo increase 10 to 30 percent each year. 12. Bamboo is the favorite food of elephants and buffaloes in India, pandas in China, giant gorillas in Africa. This is just a small list of wild and domestic animals that prefer bamboo where available. 13. Bamboo has the potential for use in the creation of a new type of auto -- one with no engine, radiator, transmission, gas tank, muffler, tail pipe, pollution or battery. The battery energy storage can be replaced by a high density super flywheel made out of bamboo. In 1974 Dr David Rabenhorst of John Hopkins University proposed such a car. The use of the flywheel propulsion in vehicles had been in use in Switzerland and the Belgium Congo from 1953 to 1967 in public buses. 14. In South America there is evidence of a bamboo dwelling built over 9,500 years ago. 15. The longest bamboo suspension bridge was built across the Min-Chiang River in China. First built over 1000 years ago, when it was damaged, ferry boats were used until 1803 when the bridge was rebuilt. The bridge was 850 feet long, 9 feet wide and supported by 10 woven bamboo cables 6 inches in diameter. In 1974 the bridge was replaced by a steel cable bridge. 16. The development of gun powder in China included the siliceous skin of bamboo in addition to many other ingredients. 17. Bamboo culms, either in the grove or as cut poles, will produce an electrical current when stressed (bent). This is true with both tension and compression. 18. The tensile strength of pleated bamboo cables is as strong as or stronger than a steel cable of the same size. Hemp rope loses 20% of its strength when wet while bamboo cables increase in strength by as much as 20% when wet. 19. During WWII the US Army Quartermaster Corps used bamboo to make crates for air dropping supplies to troops in Burma. Bamboo was plentiful and strong enough to withstand the drop without breaking apart. There is an example on display in the Fort Lee US Army Quartermaster Museum just outside of Petersburg, Virginia. 20. Ski poles used by the Army in the Second World War were made out of bamboo. Guadua from South America was the main variety used.
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Bamboo benefits:
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Bamboo for Africa
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Bamboo creates the exciting potential for small scale value added manufacturing opportunities. The emergence of high energy crops opens up the opportunity for communities to share in the New Green Economy, as fast growing bamboo contributes to biomass value addition.
