Nigeria and bamboo plants as a forest product

Abstract

Bamboo is one of the most valuable non-timber products in the world today and it provides livelihood to millions of people in the world. The paper explained bamboo and discussed the morphology of a bamboo plant. It explained the uses and properties of bamboo. The paper also identified impediments to effective utilization of bamboo as a forest product in Nigeria. Some of these impediments include lack of public awareness in the use of bamboo for modern construction work, lack of bamboo research institute, unavailability of technical experts for processing bamboo and government attitude towards bamboo as a forest product. The paper suggests establishment of Bamboo research institute for conducting researches in bamboo and for the production of technical personnel for processing bamboo.