Jumat, 25 November 2011

Growing Bamboo for Profit

Growing Bamboo for Profit

Bamboo is an evergreen plant and real wood and grass family Poaceae. This is the fastest growing plant in the world and has about 1,000 species. Factory bamboo found in various parts of the world, such as East Asia, Northern Australia, sub-Saharan Africa, the United States, Chile and Argentina. Let us understand how to grow bamboo for profit.



Growing Bamboo for Profit
The fast growth of bamboo make it a good crop to be cultivated for profit. Bamboo can grow around 60 cm in a single day. The fastest bamboo growth that has been measured till date is 121 cm in a day.

Climate and Soil: The temperature of 60ºF is best for the growth of bamboo plants. The bamboo plants need support, and thus, clay soil is suitable for their cultivation. Thus, bamboo shouldn't be cultivated in sandy soil. A well-drained soil prevents the plant from getting over watered. Over watering may cause the bacterial infection of rhizoids, and thereby rotting and decaying.

Bamboo Planting: Bamboo cultivation proves to be profitable if planted at a proper distance, i.e. 21 - 30 feet apart. It provides enough space for the plant to grow vigorously. There is no need to spend much on the maintenance of this plant. It is another reason which makes bamboo cultivation a profitable practice. The planting material needed for bamboo cultivation are the shoots with nodes present on them. The nodes are ring-shaped and encircle the shoots of the bamboo plant.

Cultivation: The plants that are cultivated for wood do not need much fertilizers and sunlight. However, if the plant is cultivated for selling the shoots, enough nourishment has to be provided. The use of tools in bamboo cultivation has reduced the cost of cultivation to a great extent. Thus, the earlier form of bamboo cultivation which was labor intensive has become much more mechanized.

Bamboo Farming for Profit
There are many benefits of growing bamboo, which makes bamboo cultivation a profitable affair. The amount of timber that bamboo produces per unit land is greater than any other plants, nearly around 20 times more. It is possible to cultivate bamboo on a degraded land. Bamboo cultivation for wood is very much profitable because of its fast growth. Most of the hardwood species from the tropical region require around 30 years to mature completely. The bamboo, however, doesn't need more than 3 - 4 years to grow from the time it is planted. Nowadays, automated machines are being used for the processing of bamboo. The time required for processing has reduced greatly over time. Thus, the demand for bamboo has risen in comparison to earlier days. The international demand for bamboo is increasing at a fast pace. Countries like Singapore, Japan, Taiwan, Malaysia and Korea import bamboo on a large scale. Thus, growing bamboo for profit is one of the feasible options to consider.

Markets for Bamboo Cultivators
Bamboos could be used for many different purposes, and one can make profit by selling various products made from this plant. Fresh bamboo shoots are used for edible purposes, and selling bamboo as a food could turn out to be highly profitable. The wood obtained from bamboo is also used as construction material. The use of bamboo flooring is a common practice in many countries. Thus, one should target this section of the market and try to gain profits. Bamboo rugs are also used in many homes. Therefore, one should take into account various uses of bamboo while undertaking its production.