Selling bamboo in fashionable building

SUSTAINABLE Kawayan Collective produces at the least 200 handled poles and 20 panels every week. It additionally provides bamboo for the social housing initiatives of nongovernmental organizations like Base Bahay Basis and Habitat for Humanity. —PHOTOS FROM KAWAYAN COLLECTIVE FACEBOOK PAGE

DUMAGUETE CITY—A social enterprise within the southern city of Dauin, Negros Oriental has been awarded a presidential recognition for selling using bamboo as a building materials.

Kawayan Collective Agricultural Cooperative, headed by manufacturing supervisor Marbert Tinguha, was awarded by President Marcos, after besting a number of different micro, small and medium enterprises (MSME) within the small enterprise class through the celebration of the MSME Improvement Week led by the Division of Commerce and Business (DTI) at Malacañang on July 10.

“The popularity of Negros Oriental’s Kawayan Collective by the DTI highlighted its vital contributions to sustainable building and neighborhood improvement,” says Maribel Villaflores-Sumanoy, senior commerce and trade improvement specialist, who spearheaded the seek for the most effective MSME candidate within the province.

She says the popularity of Kawayan Collective underscores the potential of bamboo as a game-changer within the constructing trade via the efforts of the cooperative’s founder Ray Villanueva and his spouse Amy.

Kawayan Collective is within the enterprise of aggregating, processing and distributing handled bamboo poles, reworking them into sources that adjust to construction-grade requirements as an alternative choice to conventional constructing supplies like cement blocks and metal.

The cooperative produces at the least 200 handled poles and 20 panels every week. It additionally provides handled bamboo for the social housing initiatives of nongovernmental organizations like Base Bahay Basis and Habitat for Humanity.

A number of housing initiatives are presently underway to offer shelter for households recognized underneath the Finish Native Communist Armed Battle (Elcac) program. These initiatives contain collaboration with the Division of Agrarian Reform and the Philippine Military.

Within the southernmost city of Basay alone, over 100 homes are being constructed as a part of the Negros Oriental Elcac Housing Venture.

In Bayawan Metropolis, efforts embody the development of 10 duplexes and faculty buildings.

The place the artisans are

DTI helped set up in 2022 the Philippine Bamboo Business Improvement Council to arrange a street map that goals to revolutionize the trade within the nation, and discover methods to raise its competitiveness and sustainability, Sumanoy says.

Kawayan Collective’s Villanueva says their choice to ascertain operations within the municipality of Dauin, about 16 kilometers south of Dumaguete, was influenced by numerous components, notably the presence of expert bamboo crafts artisans who’ve lengthy upheld the custom of bamboo craftsmanship within the space.

“Collaborating intently with these artisans in Dauin solidified our alternative, acknowledging their experience and invaluable contribution to the enterprise,” he says.

Data on the Division of Setting and Pure Assets present that Negros Oriental has round 900 hectares of bamboo thickets.

BADGE OF HONOR Kawayan Collective Agricultural Cooperative chair Marbert Tinguha (fifth from left) receives the Presidential Award for Excellent MSME (small enterprise class) from President Marcos. Additionally within the photograph are (from left): MSME Improvement Council vice chair and Go Negosyo founder Joey Concepcion, Commerce Secretary Alfredo Pascual and Government Secretary Lucas Bersamin. —PHOTO FROM GO NEGOSYO

Villanueva recollects that the pandemic, which had occurred throughout their second 12 months of operation, prompted a “strategic shift” towards modern options.

“With a renewed emphasis on waste utilization, we ventured into new product traces, together with engineered panels, pre-fabrication fashions and bamboo starter home kits,” he says.

Collaborating with DTI and the Division of Science and Expertise (DOST)–Forest Merchandise Analysis and Improvement Institute, Kawayan Collective adheres to rigorous requirements for grading process and check strategies for bamboo buildings, guaranteeing compliance with worldwide high quality benchmarks.

Villanueva notes how DOST-Negros Oriental helped present a grant of P2.3 million for the development of an eco-dryer.

“The challenge aimed to facilitate environment friendly and sustainable native manufacturing of engineered bamboo merchandise, whereas enhancing the capability and talent stage of native suppliers to course of, deal with and distribute sturdy bamboo as a sustainable building materials,” Villanueva says.

He says utilizing a kiln to course of bamboo offers it a mold-resistant end, helpful in humid nations just like the Philippines.

“Our funding within the bamboo trade encompasses your entire worth chain of the neighborhood—from farmers to builders,” Villanueva says.