Rongchang Ma Bamboo Shoots

Rongchang Ma Bamboo Shoots

　　Chongqing’s Rongchang County is known as the “Hometown of Chinese Ma Bamboo Shoots.” The region has built its brand around bamboo, developing forestry projects that are well-suited to local cultivation and offer strong economic benefits. Through a reward-based subsidy system, farmers are encouraged to grow ma bamboo. The county introduced 10 acres of new ma bamboo varieties from Yingde City, Guangdong Province for trial planting. Through active cultivation and technological breakthroughs, in December 2004, it was officially named the “Hometown of Chinese Ma Bamboo Shoots” by the Economic Forest Association of the State Forestry Administration.

　　　　In recent years, the Rongchang County Party Committee and County Government have seized the opportunity presented by China’s national Grain-for-Green Program, giving full play to the advantages of the county’s distinctive forestry industry. Since 2001, Rongchang has integrated the goals of returning farmland to forest with those of boosting farmers’ incomes. Leveraging its resource strengths, the county has vigorously promoted the development of the bamboo shoot and bamboo industry, establishing a bamboo forest area of 300,000 mu, making it another major pillar industry for rural areas after the hog farming sector. Today, those initial 10 acres of ma bamboo have expanded into 110,000 mu of ma bamboo forests, earning Rongchang the well-deserved title of “Hometown of Chinese Ma Bamboo Shoots.”