In mid - spring, over 100 mu of bamboo forests in Jiti Village, Wangcun Town are full of vitality. As a local characteristic agricultural industry, thunder bamboo shoots have entered the peak harvest season, and villagers are seizing the farming season to dig fresh bamboo shoots.

Recently, when entering the thunder bamboo shoot planting base in Jiti Village, one can see villagers holding shovels, skillfully digging bamboo shoots in the bamboo forest. With one shovel and one lift, a tender bamboo shoot is completely dug out and put into the basket. The freshly dug bamboo shoots are quickly sent to the sorting area, where they are sorted, trimmed, weighed, bagged, and waiting to be sent to the market.

Thunder bamboo shoots, also known as early bamboo shoots, are the tender buds of Phyllostachys violascens in the Poaceae family. They are named because they germinate rapidly when it thunders in early spring. The meat of thunder bamboo shoots is crispy and tender, sweet - flavored, and rich in dietary fiber, amino acids, and various trace elements. They are characterized by low calories and high nutrition and can be eaten fresh, pickled, or made into dried bamboo shoots. They are known as one of the "mountain delicacies". The growth cycle of thunder bamboo shoots is short, taking only 7 - 10 days from emerging from the ground to being harvested. They have high requirements for soil and climate, and the harvest season is from February to April.

The person in charge of the cooperative introduced that Jiti Village has a humid climate and fertile soil, which is very suitable for the growth of thunder bamboo shoots. In 2021, Leshan Chuanmao Thunder Bamboo Planting Cooperative transferred land locally and began large - scale planting of thunder bamboo shoots. After 4 years of development, the planting area has expanded from dozens of mu at the beginning to more than 180 mu, and the output and sales volume have increased year by year.

Wu Xiaolin, the person in charge of Leshan Chuanmao Thunder Bamboo Planting Cooperative, said, "Now the yield per mu is more than 2,000 jin. It is expected that in the 5th and 6th years of the peak production period, the yield per mu can reach 4,000 - 5,000 jin. This year, the sales methods are wholesale and retail. The wholesale price is 5 - 6 yuan per jin, and the retail price is 8 - 10 yuan per jin. The total output value this year will basically reach more than 2 million yuan. We not only sell thunder bamboo shoots but also sell seedlings in June. We hope that more people will come to plant them to increase everyone's economic income."
In recent years, Jiti Village, Wangcun Town has given full play to its ecological resource advantages and found a new path to rural revitalization through the diversified development of characteristic agricultural industries. The large - scale development of thunder bamboo shoots has become an important way to increase agricultural efficiency and farmers' income locally. It not only revitalizes idle forest land resources but also solves the employment problem of some villagers. (Text/Photos: Liu Shujie)