Project/activity information

This three-year project aims to facilitate capacity building for the development of a sustainable rattan sector in China through the establishment of demonstration plots for management of rattan plantations and implementation of training workshops on management and utilization of rattan. Three demonstration plots for rattan plantations will be established in Gunagdong and Guangxi provinces in south China. Three demonstration plots will include
(i) an intensively managed and high-yielding rattan plantation focusing on two fast growing species of Daemonorops margaritae and Calamus simplicifolius;
(ii) a rattan plantation in secondary forests in mountainous limestone areas with four fast growing rattan species of C. platyacanthus, C. simplicifolius and C. nambariensis var. xishuangbannaensis and D. margaritae, and
(iii) a sustainably harvested rattan plantation with three rattan species of D. margaritae, C. simplicifolius and C. tetradactylus. Efforts will be made to address the problems of over harvesting, low productivity and poor management.

Based on the results from the three demonstration plots, technical manuals for sustainable management of rattan plantations will be published. The technologies and the scientific knowledge produced by the project are also expected to transfer to the relevant stakeholders in the private sector through three training workshops on
(i) rattan cultivation and plantation management,
(ii) cane and shoot harvesting, processing, utilization and
(iii) rattan products development and marketing.

The project will contribute to the social and economic development of the local communities engaged in rattan development since rattan was listed by the China State Forestry Administration, as one of the forestry sector’s key products for development during the “Tenth Five-Year Plan for the Forestry Sector in China”.