A presentation given at the Global Bamboo and Rattan Congress (BARC 2018), 25-27 June 2018.

1. UTILIZATION OF RATTAN RESOURCES IN
AFRICA
Abel O. Olorunnisola
Professor & Head
Department of Wood Products Engineering
University of Ibadan, Nigeria
Member, INBAR Taskforce on Rattan Uses and
Development

2. Greetings from Nigeria, West Africa

3. Greetings from University of Ibadan, Nigeria

4. Outline of My Presentation
•Preamble
•Occurrence of rattans in Africa
•Rattan sources
•Rattan harvesting
•Forms of Rattan cane utilization in Africa
•Conclusion & Recommendations

5. Preamble
• Harvesting, collection, processing and sale of rattans, constitute a
major source of income for millions of people in many African
countries, most especially Cameroon, Ghana & Nigeria
• 100% of rattan utilisation in Africa still depends on plants growing
in the natural forests
• Cane furniture & handicraft production continues to provide job
opportunities in rural and urban areas of Africa
• The essence of this presentation is to draw attention to available
rattan species found in Africa, their harvesting & current modes of
utilisation

6. Africa

7. Occurrence of Rattans in Africa
• There are currently 54 countries in Africa
• Rattan predominantly occurs in the rainforests and savannahs in
no less than 20 African countries :
Angola, Benin Republic, Cameroun, Central African Republic, Democratic
Republic of Congo, Cote d'Ivoire, Equatorial Guinea, Gabon, Gambia,
Ghana, Kenya, Liberia, Mali, Nigeria, Senegal, Sierra Leone, Sudan, Tanzania,
Togo, and Uganda

8. Occurrence of Rattans in Africa
• There are conflicting reports on number of species available
• Recent reports suggests occurrence of 22 species and four genera, i.e.,
Calamus, Eremosphatha, Laccosperma (syn. Ancistropyllum), and
Oncocalamus. Out of the four genera, three are endemic, i.e.,
Laccosperma (6 spp.), Eremospatha (11 spp.), and Oncocalamus (4 spp.)
• Calamus deerratus is the most widespread species, while Laccosperma
secundiflorum, L. robustum and Eremospatha macrocarpa are the most
commercially utilised
• Scanty information is available on stocking level & quality of rattans in
African forests since a thorough resource assessment is yet to be
completed

9. Rattan Sources
• There are no records on silvicultural practices of natural rattan stands
in Africa
• Establishment of rattan plantation is also not yet common
• However, Sunderland and Balinga (2006) presented some the results of
experimental studies on trial propagation in Cameroon, Ghana and
Nigeria showing relatively low mean germination rates for
Eremospatha macrocarpa (32.5%), Laccosperma secundiflorum (19.25% ),
and Laccosperma robustum (40.25% )
• Sunderland et al (1998) also reported a total mortality of 15% & mean
annual growth rate of 2.6m for trial plantation of Laccosperma
secundiflorum in Cameroon

10. Rattan Harvesting
• Harvesting of rattan in Africa is still from the wild and being
manual, could be laborious and hazardous
• There are no standard local regulations guiding harvesting
• Unsustainable harvesting leads to forest degradation; affecting
overall forest ecosystem services
• Nevertheless, rattan is much easier to harvest, requires simpler
tools and is much easier to transport most tropical wood
• This makes rattan a potential tool in forest maintenance, since it
provides a profitable crop that depends on rather than replaces
trees

11. Rattan Cane Utilisation in Africa

12. Furniture Products
• A wide Variety of rattan furniture products are produced and
marketed in Africa
• These include a wide variety of bedroom, dinning, living room,
occasional, office, infant and garden furniture items
• The most common rattans employed for furniture production are
Calamus dearatus, Eresmophata macrocarpus, Laccosperma
secundiflorum, and Oncocalamus wrighmus
• The highest-quality rattan furniture & handicraft products are
made in Cameroon, Ghana, Nigeria, and Tanzania

13. Samples of African Rattan
Furniture

14. Handicraft
• Rattan cane handicrafts produced across Africa include baskets, crates,
poultry cages, trays, and packaging materials, flower vase, lampshades,
sporting goods, gift items & souvenirs et c.
• Many of the properties of rattan that make it suitable for furniture also
make it a popular choice for handicraft and art pieces.
• The most common species of rattan employed for furniture production
are also used in making handicraft products
• Dried canes processed into skin and core materials are usually used
• Processing methods vary slightly from place to place, but in most cases
they involve manual handling and a lot of cane material wastage

15. Rattan Cane Handicraft Products on Display in Maryland,
Lagos, Nigeria

16. Challenges facing Rattan Craftsmen in
Africa
The major challenges facing rattan craftsmen in the major rattan-
producing African countries include
• the relatively high cost of acquiring high-valued rattan canes on a
continuous basis all year round
• the relatively short supply of expert craftsmen
• the tedium involved in manual peeling and weaving of cane
products
• rodent, insect and fungi attacks

17. Traditional forms of rattan utilization in
building construction
Traditionally, many rural dwellers in the rattan rich countries
employ the aid of rattan in home building projects
Eremospatha wendlandiana cane is split to make ropes used to tie
bamboo and stick frame of houses before the frame is plastered
with mud

18. New forms of rattan utilization in building
construction
Cement-bonded composite floor and wall tiles from Calamus
dearatus, Eresmophata macrocarpus and Laccosperma
secundiflorum cane particles

19. New forms of rattan utilization Contd.
Cement-bonded composite roofing tiles from Laccosperma
secundiflorum cane fibres

20. New forms of rattan utilization Contd.
Extruded wood plastic composite (WPCs) manufactured from a
mixture of ground particles of rattans ( Laccosperma
secundiflorum and Eremospatha macrocarpa) and heated
thermoplastic resin (Adefisan et al. 2017)

21. New forms of rattan utilization Contd.
• Beam Reinforcement: It has been demonstrated that the canes of L.
secundiflorum can be used as alternatives to steel in concrete reinforcement
Rattan Cane Reinforcement
Rattan cane-Reinforced Lintel beam
casting in progress
Cured Rattan cane-Reinforced Lintel Beam
after 28 Days

22. Propping operations on the Farm
• Ropes made from Eremospatha wendlandiana, almost exclusively
restricted to the coastal rainforest of Nigeria and Cameroon, is
largely used for propping to guide young yam tendrils to a stake
on the farm (Morakinyo 1995) .

23. Mobility Aid
• The stem of Laccosperma laeve, widely distributed in Liberia, Cote
d'Ivoire and Ghana, is extremely hard and can only be split with great
difficulty
• It is therefore mainly used in producing walking sticks (Morakinyo 1995)
• In a more advanced form of utilization, it is now known that rattan can
be used to build a scaffold to support damaged bones since rattan has
the same strength, flexibility and porosity as bones
• Though Calamus rotang, grown in southern India and Sri Lanka, is the
major species already tested, rattan species found in Africa could also
be tested

24. Ropes
• Eremospatha macrocarpa, one of the most common rattans in West Africa, is
the main cane rope species
• Its rope is used for making protective coverings for machete handles, and
sometimes for weaving baskets and furniture backs and seat
• Other rattan species, e.g., Laccosperma opacum, found in swampy areas and
riverine forests of Guinea, Ghana, Nigeria, Equatorial Guinea, & the
Democratic Republic of Congo; C. deerratus, the most widespread African
rattan; and Oncocalamus mannii found in Nigeria, Cameroon and Gabon, are
also used as ropes

25. Medicinal Purpose
• The cane of Eremospatha hookeri, found in Sierra Leone, Cote
d'Ivoire, Nigeria, Central African Republic, the Democratic
Republic of Congo, Ghana and Cameroon is used mainly as a
medicinal chewing stick (native toothbrush)
• The stem is cut into 15 cm lengths which when chewed, taste
exceedingly bitter (Morakinyo 1995)

26. Biofuel Briquettes
• Olorunnisola (2004) produced biofuel briquettes from strands of Laccosperma
secundiflorum and Erymosphatha macrocarpa collected from a rattan furniture workshop
and mixed with cassava starch

27. Corporal punishment
• Thin rattan canes are still used school and domestic corporal
punishment in Nigeria and several other African countries

28. Conclusion
•The rattan industrial sector of Africa has great
economic potentials.
•There is the challenge of unsustainable and
uncontrolled harvesting
•The imminent shortage of rattans in many African
countries should be addressed through
implementation of sustainable management
practices

29. Bibliography
• Adewole A.N and M.A. Onilude 2011. An Overview of rattan distribution in
four states in South-south part of Nigeria World Rural Observations: 3(2):82-
87.
• Adefisan, O.O., Wei, L. and A.G. McDonald 2017. Evaluation of plastic
composites made with Laccosperma secundiflorum and Eremospatha
macrocarpa canes. Maderas. Ciencia Y Tecnología, 19(4): 517-524.
• Dransfield J. and N. Manokaran (Eds.) 1993.Plant resources of south-east
asia-rattans. Prosea, Jakarta, Indonesia.
• Dransfield J. 2002. General introduction to rattans- the biological
background to exploitation and the history of rattan research: in J. Dransfield,
F.O.Tesoro and N. Manokaran (eds.) Rattan: Current Research Issues and
Prospects for Conservation and Sustainable Development. Non Wood Forest
Products No 14, FAO, Rome, pp. 23-34.

30. Bibliography
• Lucas, E.B. and B.I.O. Dahunsi. 2004. Harvesting, processing and utilisation of rattan
canes in Western Nigeria. Southern African Forestry J. 202: 37–44.
• Morakinyo, A.B. 1995. Profiles and Pan-Africa Distribution of the Rattan Species
(Calamoideae) Recorded in Nigeria. Principe39 (4)1:197- 209
• Ogunwusi A.A. 2012. Challenge of industrial production and processing of rattans
in Nigeria. Journal of Research in National Development 10(2):50-59
• Oladejo, O.O. 2015 Production and Installation of rattan cane-reinforced lintel
beam and coconut fibre composite roofing sheets on a sawdust-reinforced
sandcrete block building. A project report submitted to the department of
Agricultural and Environmental Engineering, Faculty of Technology, University of
Ibadan, 83 pp.
• Oladele, A.T., Aiyeloja, A.A. and Q. Aguma 2013. Economic analysis of cane furniture
production in Rivers State, Nigeria. Journal of Economics and Sustainable
Development 4(5):31-38.

31. Bibliography
• Olorunnisola, A.O. 2002. Rattan harvesting and utilization in Nigeria. A
paper presented at the Annual Meeting of the American Society of
Agricultural Engineers (ASAE), held in Chicago, Illinois, USA, July 26-
30 2002, ASAE Paper No. 025002. 10 pp.
• Olorunnisola, A.O. 2003. Preliminary Investigation into rattan furniture
production in Ibadan, Oyo State. Journal of Tropical Forest Resources
19 (2): 126 – 136.
• Olorunnisola, A.O. 2004. Briquetting of rattan furniture waste. Journal
of Bamboo & Rattan 3(2): 139 – 149.
• Olorunnisola, A.O. and Agrawal, S.P. 2015. Effects of NaOH
concentration and fibre content on physico-mechanical properties of
cement-bonded rattan fibre composites. Pro Ligno, International
Journal of Wood Engineering 11(4): 192- 198.

32. Bibliography
• Olorunnisola, A.O. 2017. Experimental investigations on cement-bonded rattan cane
composites, in H. Savastano Jr., J. Fiorelli S. Francisco Dos Santos (eds.) , Sustainable
and nonconventional construction materials using inorganic bonded fiber
composites, published by Elsevier Woodhead Publishing, United Kingdom eBook
ISBN: 9780081020029, Hardcover ISBN: 9780081020012, pp. 429-444.
• Oteng-Amoako, A. and B. Obiri-Darko, 2000a. Rattan as a sustainable cottage
industry in Ghana: a need for development interventions. Paper presented at
international rattan seminar in Limbe, Cameroon, 1-4 February, 2000.
• Oteng-Amoako, A. and B. Obiri-Darko, 2000b. Socio-economic survey of rattan
industry of Ghana. Paper presented at the international workshop of bamboo and
rattan in Nairobi, Kenya, 2-7 April, 2000.
• Oteng-Amoako, A. and B. Obiri-Darko 2001. Rattan processing and marketing in
Africa: technology needs for a sustainable Industry. Unasylva, An International
Journal of Forestry and Forest Industries 52: 24-26

33. Bibliography
• Oteng-Amoako A. and B. Obiri-Darko 2002. Rattan as sustainable industry
in Africa: the need for technological interventions: in J. Dransfield, F.O.Tesoro
and N. Manokaran (eds.) Rattan: Current Research Issues and Prospects for
Conservation and Sustainable Development. Non Wood Forest Products No
14, FAO, Rome, pp. 89-100.
• Sunderland, T.C. H., Nkefor, J., and P.C. Black 1998. The establishment and
maintenance of a silvicultural trial of Laccosperma secundiflorum in
Cameroon. Technical Note No. 3 African Research Programme.
• Sunderland, T.C. H. and J. Nkefor 1999. Technology transfer between Asia
and Africa: Rattan cultivation and processing. Afrirattan Technical Note No. 5.
• Sunderland, T.C. H. 2002. Recent research into African Rattans (Palmae) A
valuable non-wood forest product from the forest of central Africa. FAO
document repository. Available at :http:www.fao.org/docrep/X2161E/X2161e
09.htm

34. Bibliography
• Sunderland T. C.H. and M. Balinga 2006. The utilization and
management of African rattans: What prospects for livelihood
improvement & sustainability? International workshop on the
sustainable development of the global rattan sector, Beijing, 23-
27 July
• Sunderland T. C.H. and J. Dransfield 2002. Species profiles Rattans
(Palmae:Calamoideae): : in J. Dransfield, F.O.Tesoro and N.
Manokaran (eds.) Rattan: Current Research Issues and Prospects
for Conservation and Sustainable Development. Non Wood Forest
Products No 14, FAO, Rome, , pp. 9-22.
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