Marcventures Mining and Development Corporation (MMDC) invited key officials from The Board of Investment (BOI) and the Philippine Bamboo Foundation, Inc. (PBFI) to visit its 10-hectare bamboo plantation in Surigao del Sur. The event is in line with the company’s continuing efforts to ensure the success of its bamboo rehabilitation project.
BOI and PBFI were represented by BOI Governor Nap Concepcion, BOI Senior Investment Specialist Arianne Ada Antoni, PBFI President Ed Manda and his Executive Assistant Mike Gomez. They were facilitated by officials from MMDC’s Community Relations, Communications, and Environment departments.
The site assessment led by Ed Manda focused on the physical and environmental conditions of the planting sites, bamboo species selected for the project, propagation and planting practices, and present conditions of the existing bamboos planted on the mined out area.
To date, MMDC has already planted over 15,000 bamboo plants at Pili, with a combination of Dendrocalmus asper (Giant Bamboo) and Bambusa blumeana (Kawayan Tinik) species. Both species are outsourced from external bamboo producers. The Giant bamboo came from Bukidnon where it thrives well while the Kawayang tinik is sourced from nearby Munilipalities in Surigao del Sur.
According to Manda, the existing bamboo plants are thriving. This signifies that Marcventures could potentially scale up its bamboo plantation development program to achieve its goal of providing sustainable livelihood sources for its host communities.
“Marcventures has done a good start. The key is to further educate the community and provide them the appropriate training so that they can better appreciate the potentials of bamboo,” Ed Manda said.
In 2018, Marcventures also formed the Pili Kawajan Asssociation (PKJ). Composed of community members, PKJ is expected to manage the company’s 10-hectare bamboo plantation. PKJ has also completed a service excellence training that aims to strengthen their capacity to grow the bamboo plantation business.
With the support of its stakeholders, MMDC envisions a successful local bamboo industry that is profitable for the community; a sustainable business that is good for the environment, one that will last long even after MMDC reaches the end of its mine life.