Why do farmers burn straw?

The demand for animal feed decreases, transporting home takes a lot of effort, so people burn straw in the field.

Every year in the harvest, Mr. Nguyen Van Dong, Binh An commune (Thang Binh, Quang Nam) cultivate 10 sao of rice, then he will bring straw to the home, and five acres burn in the field.

A field in Quang Nam was burned by straw after harvesting.(Photo: Dac Thanh).

In the past, Mr. Dong reaped rice by hand, bringing the whole rice into the machine to remove the seeds. After drying, he dumped straw into heaps, part of making food for four buffaloes, and putting it in a barn to make a fertilizer."On that day, straw not only me but also the whole village brought back, my relatives loved straw very much," Mr. Dong recalled.

Five years ago, Mr. Dong only raised two buffaloes, so the amount of straw for animal feed did not need much. The buffalo barn is made of cement floor, not used for straw, and it is not used for cold and rainy days. Therefore, he only took straw from half of the cultivated area that was sufficient for the needs, the rest lit fire in the field.

' The burning of straw burns out the stubble so the soil plow is very convenient. In addition, burning straw for an amount of ash as fertilizer, making the field of fresh soil porous, rice growing, ' Mr. Dong explained.

This farmer said, not burning straw does not know what to do. Each rice harvest season has a number of people producing straw mushrooms, raising cattle to buy straw fields, but always choosing. They bought 100-200 thousand per pole and chose fields near the road, hot to buy. Far away from the road, lost many transportation, no one bought straw, not even took it. There was a reaping field, and the rain and straw were damaged and brought back to the cattle.

In addition to rice straw, the land for growing crops is lit by the people of Quang Nam.(Photo: Dac Thanh).

Mr. Tran Thanh Trung (Dien Thang Bac commune, Dien Ban town) cultivates eight acres of rice and does not raise livestock, so straw or sell, or burn ashes for fields.'Working here goes to work places, only old people grow rice, not enough to bring straw home, hiring labor is expensive ,' Mr. Trung explained the burning of straw.

This farmer reckons, a straw straw rented people to dry and take home 200 thousand dong, while a gas tank costs about VND 300,000, cooking more favorably than straw, is clean again.

Trung's locality borders Danang City, where there is no need to use straw, so there are few collectors in the season. And those in Quang Nam buy in the inner districts near the transport road.

'We know how to use probiotics to compost straw, but it takes a lot of time. The first is to gather it into a pile, then buy the probiotics to handle a loss of money. While burning very quickly, when the rice is cut and the sun burns, it burns into ash for the field, the weeds are dead, ' Trung said.

Straw is burned by people in the field.(Photo: Dac Thanh).

Mr. Le Muon, deputy director of Quang Nam Department of Agriculture and Rural Development, said that every year, the province cultivates more than 80,000 hectares of rice, of which about 10% of the area is burned by people in the fields, causing environmental pollution. This number is concentrated in Dien Ban town, Duy Xuyen and Que Son districts .

'In rural areas, the laborers leave their rural areas to do business, the number of people working in the fields is low so there are no people to take straw home to serve livestock. In the northern part of the province, the grass-planting people create a rich source of straw substitutes , 'Mu said.

Affirming that burning straw is more harmful than good, because the humus is only low in potassium and silicon, it is not helpful for the plants, Mr. Muon said that Quang Nam has many training courses to turn straw into fertilizer and straw "to make money" . Many mushroom cultivation models have been transferred to farmers, forming the village of mushroom mushroom production for high income.

The winter-spring crop of Quang Nam province is using straw rollers to reduce labor to bring straw home. In the summer-autumn crop, the province recommends that farmers gather straw to high places and use composted yeast for composting. The next long-term transfer, the straw will decompose, then scatter in the field to supplement fertilizer for rice.