USAID awarded a total grant of US$ 1.75 million to African Bamboo Plc on Friday, January 31, 2014, Fortune reported.

One million dollars of the grant is for developing and testing a heating process to make industrial and commercial quality bamboo using biofuels from organic waste. The second grant, amounting to US$ 750,000 is said to help the Company prepare feasibility studies and market analyses to attract investment capital and to meet requirements for exports to the United States and the European Union, according to Fortune.

African bamboo is among 475 organisations that applied for the USAID grant, which supports innovative projects integrating clean energy technology into the agriculture sectors of developing countries to improve production.

African Bamboo is currently installing machinery at its bamboo production facility. The company is planning to produce bamboo panels for outdoor decking, construction and pre-fabricated bamboo houses. It has already entered into agreements for bamboo farming with 30 cooperatives, embracing over 2,000 farmers in the Sidama Zone.

African Bamboo plan to export 100pc of its production.

“We have already secured 52% of the market in Germany and are hoping to find the remainder in the rest of the world,” Khalid Dury, the general manager of the company told Fortune.

A study by the International Institute for Environment & Development (IIED), in 2009, indicates Ethiopia has two thirds of Africa’s current total bamboo resources.

Source: Fortune