Poor thing is suffering and certainly not looking its best but I'd guess golden bamboo, Phyllostachys aurea. As mentioned in another post, your soil doesn't look very good and also very dry.

Golden bamboo is a runner and if the above was in better condition and a correct ID, you would notice new shoots (culms) emerging around the mother plant. If really happy, at a considerable distance from the mother plant. This is a bamboo that needs a confinement system.........or very poor growing conditions.

Thanks for your help gardengal48. We live in Ecuador on the central coast. Its quite humid and has distinctive wet and dry seasons. Right now we are in the dry season but I am hoping, like you said, if we can improve the soil quality and keep up the watering we can have better success. We have a load of top soil arriving on Monday. Is there anything else we could do to improve the soil? (Bearing in mind that we have no garden centers or nurseries near by). Thanks again.

I'm growing a different Phyllostachys (P. nuda) here in the frozen north. It took it a year or two to get happy before it started to really grow. Take care. They are runner bamboo as mentioned and it is best to implement a containment system of some type from the very start.

FataMorgana

Yes, you can use any sort of organic matter you can get your hands on to help improve soil. You can make your own compost out of kitchen scraps and plant debris....leaves, grass clippings (if available), etc. And there is likely to be manures available somewhere nearby. Just make sure they have been sitting around for a while (several months at least) or aged before you apply them directly to the garden.