Sharing effective solutions to reuse straw

The burning of rice straw produces CO gas – a very toxic gas that can be deadly, and at the same time causes smoke and dust affecting road and air traffic safety in the area.

Straw was piled up and burned by people, causing smoldering smoke to spread everywhere, spreading to the highway. Photo: Le Phu/ Newspaper As part of the series of events “Air pollution and our responsibilities”, the Science and Development Newspaper of Spark Magazine in collaboration with the Center for Living and Learning for the environment, the community (Live and Learn), the Internet. The Vietnam Clean Air Network (VCAP) organized an online seminar on the topic “Straw burning: Don’t waste gold and lessons from the community”. This is an opportunity for experts and businesses to share about applying local solutions to reuse straw, the challenges faced when completely ending burning straw in the field. Master Nguyen Thi Yen, Department of Agricultural Microbiology, Center for Organic Agriculture (Vietnam Agricultural Academy) said: In the winter-spring crop of 2021, there are at least 6 suburban districts of Hanoi (Soc Son, Dan Phuong) , Thanh Oai, Chuong My, Dong Anh, Ba Vi) with more than 1,000 hectares of fields applying straw treatment solutions to replace burning. Activities such as training the core group of farmers; deploying communication through online and group channels; technical guidance, practice handling solutions; Budget support for localities, cooperatives, farmers to access probiotics or collect straw has been implemented… Since then, many models and initiatives have been encouraged to be implemented such as: Association Women in Soc Son district process rice straw into organic fertilizer, Dan Phuong District Farmers’ Union distributes bio-products, Ba Vi district farmers collect straw and mill straw to make fodder for cattle… Ms. Truong Thi Thanh Nhan, Vice Chairwoman of the Women’s Union of Soc Son district, said that the collection of recycled straw into microbial fertilizer was implemented in Duc Hoa and Xuan Thu communes. In addition to propaganda to raise awareness for farmers, the District Women’s Union also helps households collect rice straw and compost 60 mounds (2 quintals of straw/mound), process it into micro-fertilizer, contributing to reducing reduce the burning of straw. Mr. Nguyen Tuong Hung, Director of Pho Hien Machine Co., Ltd. shared that the company is currently processing rice straw by using a straw roll machine in combination with a local plow to collect straw; technical support and consumption of the output straw. The advantage of the straw rolling machine is that it has a reasonable price, only about 5-10 million / machine. Harvest time is from 1-2 days after reaping and before plowing, yield from 1.5-3 ha/shift/hour. The straw roll has a diameter of 50cm, a width of 70cm, weighs from 12-14 kg, easy to carry, transport… At the seminar, the speakers and businesses answered some questions from readers related to the reuse of straw. The experts discussed and proposed some solutions using different technologies to continue using rice straw, increasing the value of straw in agriculture; can be applied from large scale for enterprises, cooperatives to small farmers. According to statistics from the Hanoi Department of Natural Resources and Environment, it is estimated that each year, the city generates over 1 million tons of rice straw and agricultural by-products. In which, the amount of straw burned in the field is about 352,000 tons (accounting for 33.7%). The burning of rice straw produces CO gas – a very toxic gas that can be deadly, and at the same time causes smoke and dust affecting road and air traffic safety in the area. In addition, according to experts, the nutrient content in straw ash is very low, so it has no effect on soil improvement.