In recent years, the ban on straw burning has played a positive role in preventing and controlling air pollution, but some farmers have reported that it has also brought about problems such as aggravation of pests and diseases and an increase in the use of chemical fertilizers and pesticides. Banyuetan reporters visited some areas in Northeast China and found that with changes in planting varieties and planting methods, there are more straws in the fields. Straw cannot be burned casually, but there are disadvantages in leaving the fields and returning them to the fields. How to deal with them has made it difficult for grassroots cadres and farmers.
Leaving the fields and returning them is difficult.
Under the "burning ban", straw has two main "destinations": one is to be buried and returned to the field, and nutrients are returned to the soil as much as possible; the other is to leave the field and increase the additional value of the straw by turning it into feed or fuel. value. However, some grassroots cadres and people have reported that both methods have shortcomings.
"I have been returning the fields to the fields for two consecutive years. The straw was soaked in water and could not rot, which caused the roots to 'burn' after transplanting the rice the next year." The interviewed farmers reported that the winter in the Northeast is very cold, and it is difficult for the straw returned to the fields to completely rot. Rice is prone to root rot after transplanting in the first year. When corn stalks are returned to the field, the insect eggs contained in them will increase the risk of insect damage in the second year, and sometimes more pesticides have to be sprayed. Some cadres from the Jiansanjiang Branch of the Beidahuang Group said that the local paddy fields have a large amount of straw, and the main treatment method is to return all the straw to the fields. However, the fields are returned to the fields for many years and are plowed deeply, sometimes causing the rice transplanter to get seriously stuck.
When the straw is buried and returned to the field, the higher the degree of crushing of the straw, the more susceptible it is to decay. The straw must be dug to a certain depth so as not to affect the next year's farming. The person in charge of the Agricultural Technology Extension Center of Qing'an County, Heilongjiang Province said that large agricultural machinery and supporting equipment used for returning fields often cost millions of yuan, and some rural areas cannot afford it or use it. Another agricultural technician said that it is rare for small farmers to use tractors with more than 200 horsepower, and the operation level cannot meet the needs of returning fields.
At the same time, there are also practical difficulties in removing straw from fields in some rural areas. There are no large-scale thermal power enterprises in some areas, and the transportation and storage costs of straw after leaving the field are high, making it difficult to process them in time. Some farmers in Baiquan County, Heilongjiang Province said that if the stacking of straw bales is not handled scientifically, they will spontaneously ignite when exposed to rain and fermented after the spring warms. "It is difficult to control straw fires. You have to remove them completely and wet them thoroughly, otherwise they will easily rekindle," said a firefighter.
When the straw is packed away from the fields, a layer of black soil will also be scraped away. Fan Binbin, a farmer from Dongjin Town, Beilin District, Suihua City, Heilongjiang Province, is a "straw broker". According to him, on average, one hectare of corn straw can be made into twelve or three straw bales, and each straw bale contains about 30 kilograms of soil. "The more thorough the packaging, the lower the machine's spring tines must be placed, and the more soil will be taken away, and it is the most fertile layer on the surface." Fan Binbin said.
In the Northeast, there is sometimes a freeze in mid-October after the autumn harvest, and the straw and soil are frozen together. Farmers reported that if the temperature drops rapidly in a year, it will be difficult to return and leave the fields. If the soil is too wet next spring, you will have to spend a few days processing the straw before sowing, which may easily lead to delayed sowing. Zhang Deshan, head of the Xingju Agricultural Planting Professional Cooperative in Beilin District, Suihua City, Heilongjiang Province, said that sometimes spring sowing is delayed by seven or eight days, and the yield per hectare can vary by thousands of kilograms. "Such production cuts are invisible and difficult to detect and take seriously."
I stared at it day and night, "In the end it burned."
Starting in 2018, Heilongjiang began to implement a "complete ban on burning in all areas and at all times." According to an official from the Heilongjiang Provincial Ecological Environment Department, although the "Three Completes" have not been mentioned in the past two years, "the standards have not been lowered" during implementation.
Banyuetan reporter learned that the amount of straw in some farmlands has increased significantly in recent years. Taking corn as an example, after various regions promoted the dense planting of corn in large ridges with double rows and three rows, the number of straw plants increased. In addition, chlormequat was widely sprayed to prevent lodging, and the amount of straw increased further. Under the constraints of objective factors, it is difficult for some areas to fully implement relevant policies, and some straws are ultimately burned.
Some farmers in Heilongjiang said that after the autumn harvest, their plots were strictly guarded and if they couldn't be dealt with, they could only "find an opportunity" to burn them before spring plowing. "But burning in spring is not as good as burning in autumn. In spring, the humidity of straw is high, it is difficult to ignite, and the amount of smoke is also large. In addition, the wind is strong in spring, and the fire can easily get out of control." Some farmers said.
Some township cadres told Banyuetan reporters that after the autumn harvest, before snowfall and around Grain Rain, farmers frequently burn straw. From the township chief to the village "village chief", they often have to be on duty in the fields. "We have to keep an eye on it day and night. If we find a flashpoint, we may be held accountable."
The director of the Agricultural Technology Extension Center of a large agricultural county in the north of Northeast China calculated an account and found that about one month after the autumn harvest to before the snow fell, the county would have to spend more than 100,000 yuan just to provide meals for the guard cadres. The cadre said: "It was burned until the end of the watch. This money was spent so unjustly."
Look for more “exports” and policy adjustments
Whether it is returning to the field or leaving the field, the horsepower of the agricultural machinery must be proportional to the size of the land. Agricultural experts said that the planting model of small households is not conducive to large-scale harmless treatment of straw. First of all, we must continue to promote large-scale land management, strengthen the use of mechanical power required for straw treatment, increase agricultural machinery subsidies and straw treatment subsidies, and avoid straw-related waste. Returning farmland and leaving farmland will increase the production burden on small farmers.
At present, a considerable part of off-field straw is used for incineration to generate electricity. Grassroots cadres believe that the utilization methods should be more diversified, and efforts should be made to support high value-added industries such as straw feed, molding fuel, edible fungus base material, and clean pulping and papermaking, so as to explore more "exports" for straw. Hou Fenglong, chairman of Heilongjiang Beirun Agriculture and Animal Husbandry (Group) Co., Ltd., believes that crop straw is a renewable resource with great development prospects and can help reduce emissions and sequester carbon. Enterprises that develop straw utilization technology should be rewarded to implement practical implementation. There are relevant subsidy policies.
Some farmers hope that the straw burning ban policy will be more flexible in implementation. In order to seize the farming season, in years and areas where it is difficult to return or leave the fields, or for straw that is difficult to handle in diseased rice fields, moderate and orderly burning is allowed, and burning bans are changed to restricted burning.
Agricultural experts suggest that foreign experience in planned straw burning management can be used to formulate rules and procedures for straw burning and implement subject responsibilities: relevant entities apply to the atmospheric management department to explain information such as the quantity, type, and time of burning; the management department combines local meteorological conditions, Determine the burning index formula based on factors such as population density, the distance between the burning site and the habitation, and calculate the total amount of straw that can be burned; strengthen the management and control of the burning process, and use methods such as adding combustion accelerants to reduce smoke generation; increase the control of disorderly and illegal burning The intensity of punishment.
Some ecological environment system cadres said that policy adjustments need to be based on investigation and scientific decision-making. Some cadres suggested that from the perspective of evaluating whether straw treatment is beneficial to production, environmental protection, and easy to operate and run, several typical agricultural counties can be selected as pilot areas for planned burning within a certain range, and experience can be gradually summed up. strike a balance between reducing environmental pollution.
Original title: "Burning is afraid of pollution, not burning will affect production and explore more "exports" for straw"
Ban Yue Tan reporter: Huang Teng