Bamboo Soil Fertility and Diversification

Restoring Soil Health in Palm Oil Plantations

Small holders palm oil plantations plays an important economic transformation for rural communities in Malaysia. However it has been an uphill struggle for many small holders due to the cost of external chemical inputs which eat into their operational cost and at the same time degrade the land and limit opportunities to diversify into other food crops to supplement their livelihoods. There has been a constant stream of requests from small holders to look into natural and agroecological systems. This is a common request among younger and educated second generation small holders.

BAMBOO ORGANIC MATTER

A bamboo clump planted in a farm or plantation provides a constant supply of organic matter to feed soil microorganisms which build up soil organic carbon. Bamboo is a drought resistant crop and an efficient nitrogen fixer, providing habitat and ecosystem for nitrogen fixing microorganism to restore soil health. It never fails to amaze us, how a simple clump of bamboo can reach out to the atmosphere to connect with sunlight to bring about a transformation process to repair degraded and depleted soil. Totally amazing!
Bamboo supporting palm oil water cycle
Bamboo harvested as ecological resources to support soil health
Bamboo can be managed for replanting