What plant is known to grow up to one metre a day, able to tolerate extreme conditions (including radiation from an atomic bomb) and can be incorporated in a range of products, from paper to furniture? Bamboo, that’s what.

Ethiopia is host to two-thirds of all African supply of bamboo. As a result, China – the global hub of the bamboo trade – has established an office for the International Network for Bamboo and Rattan (INBAR) in the African nation’s capital, Addis Ababa.

As reported by CNN, INBAR estimates the global bamboo market to be worth some US$60 billion – which could result in potential profits for Ethiopian business as well as the wider African rural economy, including bamboo farmers.

17 May 2016
Image: Gallo/Getty Images