Bamboo may technically
be a member of the grass
family, but its potential is not
so lowly. Growers in China are
using it to create building materials
and fabrics, revitalize forests, and
rejuvenate rural economies, Erik Nilsson
reports in Anji county,
Zhejiang.
Bamboo's alchemic
ability to be manufactured into nearly
anything - from car speakers to
calculators, and buildings to beer -
is conjuring a gold mine in
China. The country produces about 80
percent of the world's fastest-growing
plant, hailed by many as "the
next super-material" and the "timber
of the 21st century". There are more
than 1,500 uses for the "great grass".
The World Bamboo Organization estimates
the industry generates about $10 billion
a year, which could double by 2018.
Bamboo's magic is enhanced by
its organic production, rapid harvest
cycles and ability to grow on
mountainsides.
"Chinese culture is
bamboo culture," says Xuan Taotao, an
expert with Tianhuangping town's
agricultural department in Zhejiang
province's Anji county.
"Bamboo
can make farmers rich and our
environment healthy, so we must
preserve bamboo forests and
industries."
Anji creates 20 percent
of China's bamboo products, generating
about 12.5 billion yuan ($2.03 billion)
annually, though it contains fewer
than 2 percent of the country's
bamboo forests. The county is covered
by about 66,667 hectares of bamboo,
about 57,333 hectares of which is moso
bamboo, Xuan says.
Anji has
been producing the plant since its
founding 60 years ago.
It
traded bamboo for rice with Shanghai,
where the timber was used to
build homes.
By the 1950s, the
local trees had been logged off,
so only bamboo was
left.
When people started using
concrete to build houses in the 1980s,
the government introduced processing plants
to make low-end products, such as
chopsticks and toothpicks, from bamboo.
The industry evolved to include
flooring and other higher-end goods
and supported 90 percent of local GDP.
It's currently about 30 percent, since
more locals migrate to other
cities.
"The bamboo price is
rising, because young people want to
work in urban areas rather than
cut bamboo," Xuan
explains.
"The industry could
disappear here."
About 50 species
produce more than 3,000 products in
Anji. There are more than 3,000
bamboo-processing factories in the county
of 250,000 residents.
"Nearly everyone
is involved in bamboo," Xuan
says.
"But because it requires
virtually no care and is harvested
every two or six years, the
farmers don't have to work
hard."
Yuan Guochang works only
10 days annually on his 1.33 hectares
of bamboo, which brings in 36,000 yuan
every two years.
"I hire
other farmers to do the cutting,
and the buyers come to me,"
Yuan says.
"It's easy
money. I hope I can get higher
yields to earn more money," Yuan
says. "Bamboo is the spirit of
Anji and of China."
Anji
Cheng Feng Bamboo Products Co
Ltd's founder Hu Gongnian demonstrates
bamboo's impact on poor
farmers.
Hu never went to
school but became rich and successful
from bamboo.
His company
produced the pillars for the German
pavilion at the World Expo 2010 in
Shanghai.
Hu's career
development mirrors that of Anji's
bamboo industry.
"I've loved
bamboo since I was a child," he
says.
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