Practices and roles of bamboo industry development for alleviating poverty in China

Socio-economic development in China is not balanced. After the absolute poverty (in accordance with the current criteria) has been eliminated, helping the poor and alleviating poverty has always been the pressing assignment. Bamboo is an important forest resource, widely distributed in China and many other countries. It not only provides raw materials for economic development, but also provides kinds of nutritious foods. Moreover, bamboo is widely used in the construction industry, in transportation, agriculture, fisheries, paper-making, and in household products. Thus, developing bamboo industry is helpful to alleviate rural poverty in mountainous regions and to push up local socio-economic progress. Based on field survey, actual social investigation and literature review, by aid of SWOT and PEST(EL) analysis, this article concludes several bamboo industries practiced in the country that help to increase farmers’ incomes and promote economic development. Generally, bamboo industry can be divided into five catalogs: food, manufacturing industry, eco-tourism, energy and construction. Besides, eco-efficiency, carbon footprint and water footprint also discussed during its development process. Furthermore, the application prospects of bamboo and actual examples to create benefits are analyzed. It is expected that this paper could provide practicable experience and available pathway to improve economy and combat poverty for impoverished areas in the world.