Bamboo Lined Path, Adashino Nembutshu-ji Temple, Kyoto Japan.

Bamboo resources conservation and utilization in Malaysia

Bamboo resources conservation and utilization in Malaysia - Azmy Hj. Mohamed and S. Appanah FRIM, Kepong, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia.

Introduction

Peninsular Malaysia has a total land area of 32.86 million hectares on approximately 330 000 km². The size is similar to Norway. About 72% of land includes forests of about 19.4 million hectares and tree plantations of 4.2 million hectares. In the country, the permanent forest reserve area is 14.1 million hectares. The area designated as protected forest amounts to about 2.9 million hectares, with no logging whatsoever and it would remain in pristine condition without any disturbance. About 330 000 hectares of the Protection Forest plus another 1.8 million hectares of forest outside of it constitute national parks, wildlife sanctuaries and nature reserves. Approximately 11.2 million hectares of the Permanent Forest Reserve are earmarked as Production Forest (Fig. 1). Areas within the Production Forest are commercially logged on a rotational cycle, supporting sustained-yield management.

Malaysia consists of Tropical Evergreen Forest with upper montane forest at the topmost level that occupies a few peaks which tower over 1700 m. The montane forest extends from 800 m to about 1700 m above sea level. The hill forest occupies between 300 to 800 m on the inland Malaysian mountain ranges where many lowland species, including numerous dipterocarp species are found. The vegetation in lowland forest is influenced by sunlight, wind and other elements. It is the most abundant from lower exposed ridges to higher sheltered valleys, the abundance of dipterocarp species gives these forests the name hill dipterocarp forest. The lowland dipterocarp forest covers the elevation of 300 m above sea-level, with many species densely crowded together (Anon 1992). The temperature ranges from 26°C-34°C and annual rainfall between 400 mm-1600 mm throughout the country.

Malaysia is a heavily forested country, and forest products including bamboo are important sources of income. While bamboo has been an important resource, widely and easily available, it has remained a poor man's crop compared to timber and other non-timber crops like rattan. However, the potential for growth of the bamboo industry is tremendous. This has been recognized by researchers. In the last decade or so, Forest Research Institute Malaysia (FRIM) has given very high priority for bamboo development, both in terms of growth and the manufacturing aspects. The production and industrial development that has taken place for bamboo in Malaysia is reviewed, and the important research areas, as well as the other sectoral issues that need to be addressed before the industry can improve in the region are highlighted.

Area and habitats

Bamboos are abundant and widely distributed in Malaysia. Most of Malaysian bamboos grow gregariously, but in localized patches on river banks, in disturbed lowland forests, and on hillsides and ridge tops (Ng and Noor 1980; Wong 1989; Azmy 1991b). The populations are pure stands as well as mixed with other species in the forest. In general, bamboos were regarded as weeds in the context of Malaysian Forestry (Watson and Wyatt-Smith 1961; Chin 1977). Nevertheless, at present, it is ranked second to rattan in economic importance in Peninsular Malaysia among the minor or non-timber forest products (Aminuddin and Abd. Latiff 1991).

In 1970, the estimated total area of bamboos in Peninsular Malaysia was about 20 000 ha (McGrath 1970), and now the area has increased to about 329 000 ha (Abd. Razak and Abdul Latif 1988). The present standing stock has been estimated at 7.0 million tons (average 20 tons/ha), out of which only 6000 tons are of commonly used species with an estimated value of RM 3 million¹. There has never been a complete inventory of bamboo resources in Malaysia (Salleh and Wong 1987). The Second National Forest Inventory (NFI II- 1981/82) showed that the average number of bamboo cuttings (6 m/ cutting with more than, 3 cm in diameter at breast height) extracted per ton basis was about 95.5 and 118.3 pieces from the undisturned and disturbed forests, respectively. From these figures, it was estimated that there were 587 million culms of bamboo in the forests (Kamaruzaman 1992).

¹ IUS$ = RM3.8

Based on Table 1, the Kelantan has the highest density of bamboo within forest districts in Peninsular Malaysia, comprising of 31035 750 number of culms, followed by Pahang (23 480 760 culms), and Perak (20 174 160 culms). The total number of culms in Peninsular Malaysia was 110 584 148 covering 42 172 238 ha of forest areas (Lockman et al.1992). The most useful bamboo found in these areas is Gigantochloa scortechinii, found in Kedah, Kelantan, Perak, Selangor and Terengganu. In terms of density, the richest area is in Selangor where 20% of having more than 20 clumps per ha, 13% with 11 to 20 clumps per ha and the rest with less than 11 clumps per ha (Lockman et al. 1992). In one study, 3780 culms of G. scortechinii were obtained from 204 clumps per ha (Azmy 1991b), (Figs. 1, 2)

Genera and species

Malaysia has about 70 species of bamboo: 50 in Peninsular Malaysia, 30 in Sabah and 20 in Sarawak (Wong 1989). The 10 available genera are Bambusa, Chusquea, Dendrocalamus, Dinochloa, Gigantochloa, Phyllostachys, Racemobambos, Schizostachyum, Thyrsostachys and Yushania (Wong 1989; Azmy and Abd. Razak 1991). There are 12 bamboo species commonly exploited for commercial purposes (Azmy and Abd. Razak 1991) (Table 2). The most common species extracted are Gigantochloa scortechinii, G. levis, G. ligulata, Dendrocalamus asper, Bambusa blumeana, Schizostachyum grande and S. zollingeri. (Figs. 3, 4).

Malaysian bamboos grow wild in the forests and also cultivated by villagers in rural areas (Azmy 1992a). The most widespread species are: Gigantochloa scortechinii, Dendrocalamus pendulus and Schizostachyum zollingeri; found from the Main Range from Pattani in Thailand to Malacca on the southwest coast, up to about 1200 m altitude, more abundant at lower elevations (Fig. 2). Bambusa farinacea, G. ligulata and G. latifolia are also encountered up to about 750 m on the Main Range although they are best represented in the northern states of Perlis, Kedah and Kelantan.

The rare bamboo, Schizostachyum terminale was collected at Krau Game Reserve in Pahang in 1988, adapted to swampy and inundated conditions. Another rare species is Gigantochloa rostrata, planted in FRIM, Kepong, and in the natural state at Gunung Raya, Langkawi. The endemic lowland bamboo Racemobambos setifera is rare or extinct outside the upper Endau River area and does not occur in southern part of Peninsular Malaysia. Another rare lowland species is Soejatmia ridleyi from a collection from Bukit Timah forest in Singapore, at the southern tip of Peninsular Malaysia and a small population in Kemasul Forest Reserve, Bukit Ibam area and the Rengit Forest reserve, all in Pahang state. The endemic montane bamboos are Gigantochloa holttumiana, G. holttumochloa and Maclurochloa montana. G. holttumiana found at the summit area of Fraser Hill, Pahang-Selangor area (highest peak just over 2000 m).Maclurochloa montana occurs only in the montane forest on Western Hill (Penang Island), Gunung Jerai (or Kedah Peak, in Kedah) and in the Frasers hill area on the Pahang-Selangor border between altitude of 830-1300 m (Wong 1995).

Table 1. Density of bamboos by forest districts, Peninsular Malaysia
Source: Lockman et al. 1992

State	Districts	Compartment areas		Stock		Species
		Hectares	(%)	No. of culms	(%)
Johor	South	0.00	0.00	0	0.00
	Center	0.00	0.00	0	0.00
	East	4205.25	13.22	739 260	15.14	B. heterostachya
	North	27 615.51	86.78	4 142 340	84.86	S. zollingeri
	Total	31 615.51	100.00	3 881 600	100.00
Kedah	South	13585.85	64.99	2967150	46.32	D. asper
	Center	4 834.00	23.13	2 358 900	36.82	G. scortechinii, S. grande
	North	2 482.70	11.88	1 079 850	16.86
	Total	20 902.55	100.00	6 405 900	100.00
Kelantan	West	5 788.00	6.38	3 389 800	10.92
	South	58 489.00	64.45	20 990 850	67.64	G. scortechinii, S. grande
	East	26 470.00	29.17	6 655 200	21.44	G. species, D. pendulus
	Total	90 747.00	100.00	31 035 750	100.00
Melaka	Jasin	563.37	100.00	249 750	100.00	D. asper
N. Sembilan	West	20 930.25	86.19	5 993 910	80.83	D. sinuatus, S. zollingeri
	East	3 353.97	13.81	1 421 550	19.17	D. sinuatus, S. zollingeri
	Total	24 284.22	100.00	7415460	100.00
Pahang	Bentong	2 948.67	2.45	442 290	1.88
	Jerantut	12 112.12	10.06	1 986 540	8.46	S. brachycladum, S. gracile
	Kuantan	9 485.00	7.88	2 456 730	10.46
	Kuala Lipis	88814.83	73.79	15684210	66.80	S. brachycladum, S. gracile
	Rompin	5 342.29	4.44	2 288 130	9.75	B. vulgaris
	Temerloh	1 664.72	1.38	622 860	2.65	D. asper, B. ridleyi
	Total	120 367.63	100.00	23 480 760	100.00
Perak	Kinta/Manjung	5 297.45	7.83	2 383 860	11.82	B. vulgaris, S. zollingeri
	Kuala Kangsar	10 676.90	15.78	2 703 000	13.40	B. vulgaris, G. wrayi
	Larut/Matang	5 481.00	8.10	1 492 050	7.40	D. scandens
	South	6 179.74	9.13	1 388 700	6.88	S. grande, G. scortechinii
	Ulu Gerik	40 045.40	59.16	12 206 550	60.50	B. vulgaris, S. grande
	Total	67 680.49	100.00	20 174 160	100.00
Perlis		0.00	0	0	0
P. Pinang		2 739.00	100.00	1 096 950	100.00	S. zollingeri, B. arundinacea
Selangor	Hulu Selangor	12 193.36	30.76	7 563 510	61.01	G. scortechinii, D. asper
	Pantai Kelang	0.00	0.00	0	0.00
	Center	27 448.00	69.24	4 833 900	38.99	B. vulgaris
	Total	39 641.36	100.00	12397410	100.00
Terengganu	West	8 060.00	35.08	1 209 000	35.08	G. scortechinii, D. asper
	South	13 015.00	56.62	1 952 250	56.65
	North	1 901.00	8.27	285 150	8.27	D. sinuatus
	Total	22 976.00	100.00	3 446 400	100.00
W. Persekutuan		0.00	0.00	0	0.090
P. Malaysia		421 722.38	100.00	110 584 140	100.00

Table 2. Uses of twelve commercial bamboo species in Malaysia
Source: Azmy and Abd. Razak 1991

Species	Local Name	Uses
Bambusa blumeana	Buluh duri	Chopstick, tooth picks, furniture, musical instrument, poles, shoots as food
Bambusa heterostachya	Buluh galah/tilan/pering/pengat	Poles, frames, tooth picks, blinds, skewer sticks
Bambusa vulgaris	Buluh minyak/aao/aro/gading/ Tamalang/pa	Ornamental, tooth picks, chopsticks, skewer sticks, shoots as food
Bambusa vulgaris var. striata	Buluh gading	Ornamental
Dendrocalamus asper	Buluh beting/pering	Shoots as food, higo materials, chopstick
Gigantochloa levis	Buluh beting/bisa	Shoots as food, higo materials, chopstick
Gigantochloa ligulata	Buluh tumpat/tikus belalai	Frames, shoots as food, poles for vegetables support
Gigantochloa scortechinii	Buluh semantan/rayah/gala/paao/ Seremai/telur	Handicraft, smallscale industries, incense sticks
Gigantochloa wrayi	Buluh beti/raga	Handicraft, blinds, tooth picks, skewer sticks, shoots as food
Schizostachyum brachycladum	Buluh nipis/lemang/padi/urat/rusa/ Pelang	Handicraft, rice vessels (lemant)
Schizostachyum grande	Buluh semeliang/semenyeh	Frames, leaves used for wrapping Chinese glutinous rice dumpling
Schizostachyum zollingeri	Buluh dinding/kasap/telor/pelang/ nipis	Handicraft, toothpick, skewer sticks

Table 3. Culm characteristics of common bamboo species
Source: Azmy and Abdul Razak 1991

Species	Height (m)	Internode Length (cm)	DBH (cm)	Wall thickness (mm)	No. of culm/ clump
Bambusa blumeana	16-18	35	7-9	12-18	40-60
Bambusa heterostachya	10-13	40	4.5-5.0	8-10	40-60
Bambusa vulgaris	10-18	33	7-9	10-12	50-90
Bambusa vulgaris var. striata	8-18	35	5-10	8-16	30-60
Dendrocalamus asper	18-23	35	9-13	10-14	33-35
Gigantochloa levis	18-23	35	11-13	11-15	40-50
Gigantochloa ligulata	7-10	35	2.7-3.5	9-11	30-40
Gigantochloa scortechinii	17-20	42	9-11	7-12	50-80
Gigantochloa wrayi	15-18	40	8.5-10	6-10	40-70
Schizostachyum brachycladum	12	58	6-7	3-5	30-50
Schizostachyum grande	18-21	85	8-11	6-10	40-60
Schizostachyum zollingeri	12-15	55	5-7	4-7	50-70