Sichuan sees green shoots of growth

The quake destroyed local natural resources and damaged the farmers' living environment. Their incomes fell and became unstable.

Although the local bamboo resources are relatively rich, yields per hectare were low. And serious diseases, insect infestations and backward cultivation technologies made things worse.

The working group offered technical training in Beichuan, Anxian, Dujiangyan and Chongzhou.

It also set up a bamboo technical training center on the Dujiangyan campus of Sichuan Agricultural University.

Citi China Chief Executive Officer, Andrew Au, who took time to participate in both the program's launch in 2009 and a summary event this month, said: "We are delighted to play a part in support of Sichuan's post-disaster rehabilitation efforts and sustainable development.

"We hope the successful model of the program can be replicated in more areas and benefit more people. We believe the eco-development concept and capacity-building mechanism of the program will garner sustainable benefits for program participants as well as the bamboo sector."

Li Cheng, a bamboo farmer in Beichuan, said that after the training program some farmers produced bamboo computer keyboards, cutting boards, floorboards, jewel boxes, name card boxes, pen holders and slippers.

The prices range from 10 yuan to several hundred yuan, while a kilogram of raw bamboo costs only about 2.5 yuan.

Building on the successful practices, development models and experience in Sichuan, the program was extended to 20 villages in Zhejiang province in 2013, benefiting about 23,000 individuals.

"The program has helped about 50,000 people in Sichuan and Zhejiang, resulting in increases of 30 percent in beneficiaries' annual average incomes," said Lou Yiping, an INBAR official who has been in charge of the program since 2009.

In a recent conference in Yibin, Sichuan, Hans Friederich, director general of the INBAR, said the Sichuan Sustainable Bamboo Enterprise Program has yielded experience and a successful development model for INBAR in post-disaster reconstruction.

Farmers climb bamboo ladder to riches	Global investors shift their focus inland