Poverty assessments

Understanding the effects of bamboo on poverty alleviation provides pointers for the way INBAR may consider operating and focussing its energies in future. To this end we have been evaluating the poverty reduction impact of bamboo and rattan in a number of projects and regions around the wold, some of which are INBAR projects, some of which are not.

The results are intriguing and indicate the complexity of using bamboo and rattan for development. The role of external factors in success is considerable, and some of the main impacts are variously the large number of actors in production to consumption chain, poor organisation in the production to consumption chain, low selling prices, unfavourable policies, shortages of raw materials, lack of technology, and image problems.

Making bamboo charcoal - Abra