Philippines 1987 - There are currently 29 FAO-Assisted development projects underway in the Philippines, all within FAO's three main fields of endavour: fisheries, forestry and agriculture. Bamboo is an important forest product on Panay Island. Harvested on the mountainsides of the interior, the bamboo is made into long narrow rafts and poled down the rivers to the island's ports and cities, usually by young men who also work as farmers or forest guards.