Bamboo luong with small and medium enterprises

Intervention area of project

The project has its interventions in 5 districts: Lang Chánh, Ngọc Lặc, Bá Thước, Thường Xuân, Quan Hóa in mountainous area in the North West of Thanh Hóa:
• This area has the largest area of luong in Vietnam (over 60 000 ha)
• Luong can be used in so many ways
• Main supply for factories in the plain land
• New industry for the locality, creating more jobs in the area
• It has a lot of (about 30) small workshops involving luong, so it is potential for development and diversification of products

Current problems:
• Local residents and small enterprises rely on 2, 3 main products such as chopstick, slat, flooring boards, paper pulp
• Unstable because of reliance on only some big enterprises in the plain land
• A value chain with parallel existence with exportation of raw materials for construction
• products have low added value. By-products have no or little vallue.
• Few ordinary materials: capital, labor, facilities …
• Value chain and arrangement of enterprises are hardly structured like that in lowland
• currently unstable because of the financial crisis

Benefits of bamboo value chain to the locality
• Create and/or transfer on the spot major part of added value
• Arise many kinds of jobs, thus reduce poverty
• Reduce transportation of luong, improve sustainable management of plantations
• possibility of cooperation between farmers, collectors and producers
• achieve diversification of products and density of small and medium enterprises in the area, economy of scale, adaptability and sustainability

Objectives and solutions proposed by LDP
• Maintain preprocessing chain and main workshops in the area, despite consequences of global economic crisis
• Improve competence of enterprises in different fields such as management, marketing and negotiation.
• Diversification, structure of value chain and arrangement of enterprises
• Intensify and develop services for enterprises

Expected outcomes
• 50 small enterprises processing different products
• 1 alliance of bamboo, luong processing enterprises
• 20 competent businessmen
• 5 types of refined products in the area
• 1 support centre