Bamboo Weaving: Training aims for sustainable livelihood
Pedro Tagabi.THE material is ubiquitous because it grows abundantly everywhere and anywhere throughout the year especially in rural areas. Its potential to provide income for farmers is enormous.
The “Training on Bamboo Weaving” by the Bamboo Enterprise Development Project (BEDP) of UP Visayas on December 1-4, 2009 culminated its year-long series of activities which were all geared in providing skills and capability for farmers to plant, properly harvest, and rehabilitate bamboos and to provide them livelihood opportunities.
To achieve this end, the Project conducted two trainings for farmers in the municipalities of Guimbal, Igbaras, Miagao, Oton, San Joaquin, Tigbauan, and Tubungan. On January 21-23, 2009, BEDP held the training “Bamboo Nursery Production, Plantation Establishment, Maintenance and Protection” and on February 3-6, 2009, the training “Bamboo Rehabilitation and Harvesting Techniques.” Both were held at the UPV Miagao campus.
Pedro Tagabi demonstrates.On April 23, 2009, BEDP had a MOA signing with the mayors of the municipalities of the 1st District of Iloilo to urge them to adopt the objective of the program in their respective municipalities. A strategic planning activity was also held the next day.
Pedro C. Tagabi, resource person for the training, emphasized that he expected the participants “to finish this training with the skill that will enable them to have a sustainable livelihood through the various products that they can weave from bamboos.”
Tagabi’s background and experience on bamboo weaving made him the most capable resource person for the training. The former mayor of Tubungan is a specialist in bamboo furniture technology. A graduate of with a two-year teaching degree at the Iloilo School of Arts and Trade (now the West Visayas College of Science and Technology), he also earned a Bachelor of Science in Industrial Education degree and majored in drafting. In 1980, he qualified for a scholarship at the UP College of Education for a Master’s in Education. He graduated in 1983 and was a College Scholar Awardee for Scholastic Excellence.
Participants make slats.But more than this, Tagabi has been, and continues to be, actively involved in teaching what he knows on bamboo technology not only in the classroom but also on various extension activities and events, thereby earning him multiple awards for his efforts. In the course of the four-day training, he meticulously gave the participants the attention they needed, welcomed all their questions, and taught as best as his decades of experience could possibly impart.
The participants of the training, numbering more than 30, were from the municipalities of Miagao, Guimbal, Tubungan, and Oton. The staff of BEDP also did not pass the opportunity to acquire some skills on bamboo weaving and also participated in the activity.
The training was comprehensive. It started with a lecture-demonstration on how to process bamboo for weaving such as cutting, marking, scrapping, splitting, stripping, shaving, and sizing. The strips are the basic materials for weaving. It also included how to treat bamboo strips with chemicals, how to dye and sun-dry them, and how to blacken bamboo over smoked flame to produce patterns and designs.
The participants were grouped according to the municipality from which they came from and were expected to produce an output from among the weave patterns which they could make into baskets, hats, wall decors, vases, trays, mats, and even hairclips.
Prof. Alice P. Carolino, BEDP Project Manager, was hopeful that the participants would truly apply what they had learned out of the training when they returned to their hometowns.
The finished products were displayed at the lobby of the Administration Building on December 4 and went on sale on December 15-16 at the lobby of the College Union Building.
