Trend for bamboo furniture means business is booming for farmers

Aleta Wondo, 350 kilometres (217 miles) south of the Ethiopian capital Addis Ababa - recent 1. Various Tadesse Futa working on bamboo farm 2. SOUNDBITE: (Amharic) Tadesse Futa, Bamboo farmer "Previously I used bamboo simply to make local products: like chairs and beds for my house, fencing for outside and baskets. But since receiving this training - I've learned a lot more about how resourceful this bamboo is and how to take better care of it so the products I make are more diverse and of better quality. I now sell the things I make in Addis Ababa and am making more money from them - and I've really seen a huge increase in the price of bamboo." 3. Pan of Ethiopian landscape 4. Sign of East African Bamboo Project 5. Various bamboo forest and farmers 6. Various farmer Tadesse Futa and Tesfaye Hunde, Bamboo Expert, Ministry of Agriculture 7. SOUNDBITE: (Amharic) Tesfaye Hunde, Bamboo Expert, Ministry of Agriculture "In my opinion, bamboo really is the best remedy for Ethiopia's economy. If it's managed well and taken care of while its growing in theory, one day, experts believe we could earn almost two million USD per year. It's a great plant because you can harvest it after its first two or three years of growth and then again, every single year. It grows so fast." Nr Addis Ababa - recent 8. Various Adal Industrial, Bamboo factory 9. Various Adane Berhe, General Manager Adal Industrial 10. SOUNDBITE: (Amharic) Adane Berhe, General Manager Adal Industrial "We've already signed an agreement with Kenya and Canada to sell bamboo and our target is to try to sell it to other countries in Africa, in particular our neighbours. Also, we know that South Africa and Egypt buy bamboo flooring from China, so we want to target those two countries as well because they are closer to us and their freight costs will be lower if they buy from Ethiopia - so we hope we will be more attractive." 11. Various exterior UNIDO 12. Various Aurelia Calabro, Deputy Representative, UNIDO 13. SOUNDBITE: (English) Aurelia Calabro, Deputy Representative, UNIDO "People like Adal are exporting the floors to Canada and I think that there'll be more and more people entering the business and let it become an important export earner for Ethiopia, like coffee, leather, cotton, textiles." Addis Ababa - recent 14. Various bamboo furniture at house LEAD IN : Bamboo is a fast growing plant, often used for furniture and even cooking in Asia. Ethiopia has the largest amount of bamboo in Africa, and local people use it to build homes and utensils. But now the trend for bamboo furniture and flooring is enabling Ethiopian farmers to profit from this fast growing crop. STORYLINE : Tadesse Futa has a small farm in the village of Aleta Wondo, nearly 350 kilometres (217 miles) south of the Ethiopian capital Addis Ababa, he grows barley, vegetables and enset ('false banana'). He used the wild bamboo that grew on his land to construct pretty much everything he needed from his mud hut, fencing, furniture, baskets or beehives. But now he has begun to grow bamboo as a commercial crop. Last year the Ethiopian Ministry of Trade and Industry and the Ministry of Agriculture joined forces with the United Nations Industrial Development Agency (UNIDO) to launch a pilot project to teach farmers how to better utilise bamboo. The $2.5 million USD 'Eastern Africa Bamboo Project' (which includes Kenya and Ethiopia) focuses on three pilot villages. Tadesse and 149 other farmers were given training in how to maximise usage of this versatile grass crop by improving its growth and quality and making more profitable products out of it. There are around 2,500 species of bamboo in the world, 40 of which are in Africa and two in Ethiopia. You can license this story through AP Archive: http://www.aparchive.com/metadata/youtube/f9b6ee722ac4816d72a4f0a236a266ec Find out more about AP Archive: http://www.aparchive.com/HowWeWork