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Zhangcun breathes new life into bamboo shoot industry

chinadaily.com.cn| Updated : May 9, 2024 L M S

Early in the morning, trucks loaded with fresh bamboo shoots arrived at a workshop in Zhangcun township, Qingyuan county, Lishui, Zhejiang province, where they were processed by workers.

Zhangcun and its surrounding towns are rich in bamboo shoots. However, the high transportation costs and limited sales channels had led to a low utilization rate.

To make the most of the resources, Zhangcun revitalized 600 square meters of idle land and established a "common prosperity workshop" to conduct the unified purchase of bamboo shoots. Every day, around 20,000 kilograms of bamboo shoots are purchased from surrounding towns like Hedi and Zuoxi.

This workshop model has driven annual sales to 500 metric tons, with an output value of nearly 1 million yuan ($138,410.10), and created jobs for over 70 residents in Zhangcun and surrounding towns.

Zhang Shaoye, a farmer from Hedi town, transported his bamboo shoots to the workshop. "Thanks to the unified purchase model, our bamboo shoots sold for nearly 40,000 yuan in less than 20 days," he said excitedly.

Additionally, the workshop provides more than 500 mu (33.33 hectares) of idle bamboo forest in Hushan village for farmers to dig for fresh bamboo shoots and then uniformly recovers them at a set price.

Villager Zhang Jiwen said, "Nearly 100 families in our village have rented out their idle bamboo forests. In addition to the annual rental income, we can also get 200 yuan a day from digging work."

The workshop has increased the village's collective income by more than 16,000 yuan, with a per capita growth of 12,000 yuan, in just three months.