Agriculture Business Week

The lack of sustainable raw materials is one of the biggest problems stifling the growth of the country’s forest-based furniture and handicrafts industries. Despite this, however, the sector can still count itself fortunate.

The Forest Products Research and Development Institute (FPRDI), an agency of the Department of Science and Technology (DOST), is doing its best to help these two industries find new raw materials to substitute for traditional but less available ones.

According to FPRDI Officer-in-Charge Felix B.Tamolang, “One of FPRDI’s core commitments is to widen the raw material base of the forest-based furniture and handicrafts industries thru pro-active research. The Institute understands how much of a headache the raw material problem can be, especially for exporters. While imported lumber is available in the market, it is usually priced beyond the reach of many SMEs.”

Adds Tamolang, “For several decades now, FPRDI researchers have been scouring the country’s fields and forests looking for new raw materials. To help its clients, the agency studies ways to process promising materials, publishes references, links manufacturers with raw material suppliers, convinces industry players to put up their own plantations, campaigns for the efficient use of raw materials and gives technical assistance.”

One of FPRDI’s biggest accomplishments has been finding ways to process industrial tree plantation species (ITPS) like gmelina, big-leafed mahogany, bagras, mangium and giant ipil-ipil. Largely because of the Institute’s work, these species are now more efficiently used by the wood-based industries. Gmelina – formerly an unknown material – is now one of the sectors’ favorites.

Among others, it is ideal for producing furniture, light floors, ships and boats, sporting goods, veneer and plywood, pulpwood, boxes and crates, toys and novelties.In recent years we developed methods for sawmilling, seasoning, machining, preservation, glue-laminating and finishing such ITPS as malapapaya, river red gum, auriand thinnings from big-leafed mahogany and teak. These formerly marginalized species have proven to be very useful. Malapapaya, for instance, is now hailed as one of the best raw materials for pulp and paper, wood carvings, furniture, toys, Venetian blinds, pallets, crates, food containers, chopsticks, popsicle sticks and other lightweight products.

“The last few years were exciting for FPRDI,” reports Tamolang, “We got to know better some promising non-wood forest products. We identified the right way to bleach and dye pandan, buri and seagrass leaves as well as the lukmoy, labtang and hinggiw woody vines. We were able to extract dyes from such native plants as albotra, alugbati, tayung-tayung, tubang-bakod and kamote-kamotehan and studied procedures for drying, steam-bending and processing the bagtok and puser climbing bamboos into novelty items.

“Many of our findings, especially those on bleaching and dyeing, are now being used by small and medium handicraft-makers in La Union, Cavite andthe Negros Provinces. Tamolang closes, “While we have already done much, there is still a lot to do. The country still has a wealth of materials waiting to be harnessed for the furniture and handicraft sector, and our researchers will continue to be busy in the coming years looking into some of these.

“In the next five years, we plan to develop processing techniques for seven ITPS, four erect palms, three climbing bamboos and six fiber plants, study the use of forest vines for panels and table tops, and produce heat-modified wood from ITPS, bamboo and rattan.

“To support our research, we plan to fabricate a moisture meter for bamboo and work for the ISO accreditation of our Furniture Testing Center. We will also keep networking with all relevant industry groups, raw material producers as well as government and private organizations. Our work is far from easy, and we need all the creativity, political will and support that we can get from all industry stakeholders.”

By Rizalina K. Araral, FPRDI