By DayakDaily Team
KUCHING, Oct 31: Sarawak is looking to develop its bamboo industry as a new economic sector to diversify forest-based revenue and create more quality jobs.
Deputy Premier Datuk Amar Awang Tengah Ali Hasan said bamboo plantations deserved greater attention alongside forest plantations as the state looked to strengthen its forest-based industries.
He said bamboo had the potential to become an important commercial product, opening up new opportunities for industry players.
“We have policies and a clear direction, and we are working with industry players not only in forest plantations but also focusing on bamboo plantations, which have the potential to be developed.
“Bamboo is an important product for us to further expand our economic activities,” he said in a report by TVS.
He said this in his keynote address at the Sarawak Timber Industry Development Corporation (STIDC) dinner held at a hotel in Kuching on Friday (Oct 30).
Awang Tengah said developing forest-based industries required close cooperation between STIDC, the Forest Department and industry players to ensure the initiatives were carried out effectively.
He said closer collaboration between STIDC and various stakeholders, including government agencies, research institutions, industry associations, investors and local entrepreneurs, was crucial to developing the sector.
He added that efforts should focus on developing higher-value timber and bamboo products to strengthen Sarawak’s forest-based industries. — DayakDaily
