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BAMBOO SPECIES AND UTILIZATION IN MALAYSIA: A MINI REVIEW

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 Composite Sciences and Technology International Conference 2022 (COMSAT2022)
BAMBOO SPECIES AND UTILIZATION IN MALAYSIA: A MINI REVIEW

H.S.N. Hawanis1, R.A. Ilyas1,2,3,*

1School of Chemical and Energy Engineering, Faculty of Engineering Universiti Teknologi Malaysia, 81310 UTM, Johor,
Malaysia
2Centre for Advanced Composite Materials, Universiti Teknologi Malaysia (UTM), Johor Bahru 81310, Malaysia
3Institute of Tropical Forest and Forest Products (INTROP), Universiti Putra Malaysia, 43400 UPM Serdang, Selangor,

Malaysia

ABSTRACT

Utilization of bamboo in various industries had been a great research topic since decades ago. Bamboo is an environmentally
friendly, highly renewable and biodegradable material that can be used as a replacement for metal and timber industries. They
come is different species and divided into several geneva. Researcher shows keen interest in studies on the relationship of the
bamboo species and its mechanical properties in order to broaden the bamboo utilization in which at the same time reduce the
dependency towards non-renewable materials such as metal or a time consuming hardwood. It is proven that different species
of bamboo head toward different uses as the anatomy, physical and mechanical properties are different. Hence, this review
will pave the way to prepare the database of existing bamboo species and the current by products in Malaysia.

Keywords: bamboo, species, bamboo product

INTRODUCTION

Malaysia is a heavily forested nation, and forest products including bamboo are significant exports [1]. The National Forest
Policy 1987 (Revised 1992) has long emphasis on the necessity of implementing non-timber forest resources to ensure the
interests of resource-based industries. The Forestry Department Peninsular Malaysia (FDPM) has launched the bamboo
cultivation project as an endeavor to increase the resources of non-timber resources with the potential for commercialization
to supplement the demands identified by the policy [2]. Bamboo is a woody plant with rapid growth that is widely used in a
wide range of industries. For centuries, bamboo has played an indispensible part in the daily life of millions of people in
tropical countries. It has been used as an edible vegetable, cosmetic and fertilizer; in crafts, pulp, paper and fabrics; and as
fuel as an oil, gas and charcoal. It traditionally been used to produce domestic products including water bottles, baskets (crafts),
and chopsticks [3], [4]. In addition, bamboo is one of the oldest building materials and has been utilized in certain Asian and
Latin American nations to build bridges, agrarian homes, and water channels [4]. Bamboo has changed over the past three
decades from being a raw material for basic items to the foundation for an ever-widening range of products. It has recently
gained recognition as a possible significant provider of cultural and environmental services [5]. Thus, this paper aim to review
the bamboo species and it potential utilization in Malaysia.

BAMBOO

Bamboo is a unique group of tall grasses with woody jointed stems which belongs to the subfamily Bambusoideae of the grass
family Poaceae (or Graminaceae) family. Fig. 1 shows the morphology image of bamboo. According to the latest figures,
published in the Food and Agriculture Organization of the UN’s (FAO) Global Forest Resources Assessment 2020 (FRA),
bamboo covers about 35 million hectares of land across Africa, Asia, and the Americas. In fact, FRA 2020 reports a 50 per
cent increase in bamboo area between 1990 and 2020, largely because of new expansion in China and India. Worldwide,
bamboo have about 90 genera and more than 1600 species worldwide [3], [4]. In 2019, USD 3.054 billion of bamboo products
were exported. Based on available data, China has the highest bamboo biodiversity in Asia (500 native species), followed by
Japan (139 species), India (119 species), Indonesia (118 species), Myanmar (97 species) and Malaysia (69 species) [2], [4].

BAMBOO IN MALAYSIA

It is estimated that there are about 69 species of bamboo in Malaysia but only 13 species have been commercially utilized
including Bambusa blumeana (buluh duri), B. vuilgaris (buluh aur/minyak), B. heterostachya (buluh galah), Gigantochloa
scortechinii (buluh semantan), G. thoii (buluh beting), G. ligulata (buluh tumpat), G. wrayi (buluh beti), and Schizostachyum
brachcyladum (buluh leman) [2], [6]. Bamboo is a natural resource that is abundant in Malaysia and can be a great substitute
for local paper and timber industries. It is a fast-growing woody plant that only
________________________________ required three to five years to fully mature compared to conventional hardwood.
Article history: However, as the quantity and quality of wood resources from the forest have
Received: 1 July 2022 been declined, it is becoming increasingly necessary to explore opportunities
Accepted: 31 July 2022 for new building materials instead of traditional utilizations of wood [7]–[11].
Published: 22 August 2022
_______________ There are 33 million tonnes of bamboo growth in Malaysia. 69 bamboo species
are native to Malaysia, and 12 are used commercially [12]. In Malaysia,
E-mail addresses: bamboo is underutilized; its industry is small and produces low-value products.
ahmadilyas@utm.my Malaysian Timber Industry Board (MTIB) statistics in 2018 showed that
*Corresponding Author
Malaysia's bamboo products export was RM9.9 million (USD2.4 million) with
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 Composite Sciences and Technology International Conference 2022 (COMSAT2022)
an import value of RM96.1 million (USD23.3 million) [13]. Whereas, in other few countries, the bamboo industry is big and
used as a raw material for paper and textile. China, Myanmar, Thailand, and India are using bamboo pulps in printing and
writing papers. China's export of bamboo products for 2019 was around RM196 billion [14].

Fig. 1: Macro images and micro morphology of bamboo: (a) bamboo, (b) cross section of cylindrical bamboo culm, (c–f)
distribution of bamboo fiber in bamboo culm, (g-h) macro images of the single bamboo fibers (SBFs) and bamboo fiber
bundle [15].

As per reported by the International Network for Bamboo and Rattan (INBAR), the international bamboo industry could
generate a revenue of USD11 billion per year, and the value is expected to increase to USD 50-300 million between 2025-
2050, looking at the current capacity to achieve the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) [16]. National Forest Plantation
Programme (NFPP) has included bamboo as forest plantation species for the continuous supply of timber in the country. Thus,
ensuring a sustainable timber supply for wood-based industries is vital to achieve the National Timber Industry Policy or
NATIP's target, i.e., RM53 billions of export earnings in 2025. Besides that, The National Bamboo Industry Development
Action Plan 2021-2030 that was implemented by the Plantation Industries and Commodities Minister, Datuk Zuraida
Kamaruddin, was to continue the 2011-2020 plan in facilitating Malaysia's exports of bamboo and its derived products.
According to her, the Bamboo Community Farming program would run from the start of this year through 2025 under the 12th
Malaysia Plan (12MP) [16].

Recently, the government of Malaysia has been extensively promoting the bamboo plantation due to its great potential. It also
has been supported by the studies conducted by academicians and researchers. This can be seen from the SCOPUS website,
where approximately more than 600 published articles on bamboo fibre have been studied by Malaysian researchers (Fig. 2).

Fig. 2: SCOPUS website database on bamboo research by Malaysian researcher. Keyword: Bamboo.

Knowledge of the chemical composition of bamboo species is necessary in proposing bamboos as an alternative to forest
exploitation. Bamboo is classified as a high-polymer composite material made up of reinforced fibres incorporated in the
middle lamella's continuous matrix [17], [18]. The properties of bamboo, e.g., physical, chemical, mechanical, thermal,
cohesive strength, electrical, and hygroscopic, are crucial to determining its industrial applications, depending totally or
partially on its molecular, supermolecular, and polymer structures [19]. The pulp and paper industry is based on wood
chemistry, making it more than any other wood-converting industry [20]. In the future growth of the wood-converting business,
chemical composition will continue to play a significant essential role. More knowledge of the fundamental characteristics of
bamboo and related products will be prioritized in any future growth of bamboo science and technology.

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 Composite Sciences and Technology International Conference 2022 (COMSAT2022)
CONCLUSIONS

Malaysia has various bamboo species, but these resources are underutilized as its industry is small and producing low-value
products. In addition, their annual export value is only RM 350,000. As per reported by the International Network of Bamboo
and Rattan (INBAR), the international bamboo industry could generate a revenue of USD11 billion/year, and the value was
expected to increase to USD18 billion in 2018. There are currently 33 million tonnes of bamboo in Malaysia, in which, 69
bamboo species are native to Malaysia, and 12 of these species are used commercially. Bamboo has been used as a raw material
for wood based industry for 7,000 years. Besides that, bamboo can be an alternative for non-wood timber in producing high
value added products.

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

The authors would like to thank Universiti Teknologi Malaysia, Universiti Sains Malaysia, Uni-versiti Pertahanan Nasional
Malaysia, and the Ministry of Education, Malaysia for their financial support. The authors would like express gratitude for the
financial support received from the Universiti Teknologi Malaysia, project “The impact of Malaysian bamboos’ chemical and
fibre characteristics on their pulp and paper properties, grant number PY/2022/02318— Q.J130000.3851.21H99”. The
research has been carried out under the program Research Excel-lence Consortium (JPT (BPKI) 1000/016/018/25 (57))
provided by the Ministry of Higher Educa-tion Malaysia (MOHE).

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