Journal of Emerging Trends in Economics and Management Sciences: Home

Article Title:
Bamboo Cultivation and its Economic Potential in the Kenyan Construction Sector
by Arch. Dr. Raphael Rauf Odida Ochieng, Ph.D

Abstract:
For decades, bamboo cultivation has taken place in selected regions in the world such as Latin America and the Far East. It is a fast-growing plant with numerous economic applications in several sectors including the construction industry. Currently, steel and timber are some of the heavily consumed construction materials. While steel production processes contribute to environmental degradation, exploitation of the timber products has led to wonton destructions of forests with grave environmental consequences. The foregoing implies that there is a need to establish alternative construction materials which are both renewable and environmentally sustainable. The study relied on secondary data obtained from critical review of existing literature on bamboo cultivation as well as its economic potential to the construction industry. Content analysis was employed to analyze the data. The findings indicate that while bamboo farming in Latin America and the Far East is large scale, the bamboo cultivation in Africa and Kenya remains scantily exploited. The findings also show that although there exist several applications of bamboo in construction its application in the Kenyan construction industry remains at infancy stage. The recommends that Government provides incentives and sensitization programmes to promote large scale bamboo cultivation. Finally, the Government should put mechanisms in place for the formulation of a code of standards for application of bamboo as a construction material.

Keywords: Bamboo, Cultivation, Economic Potential.

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