Straw burning causes severe smog over large areas of China: Why does it keep happening despite bans?

Where does all the straw end up? Straw is an agricultural residue; during the harvesting season, every farmer generates straw. In the past, straw could be used as fuel for heating homes and stoves by farmers, as feed for livestock, or to make compost for use in the fields. Nowadays, however, most rural households use fuels such as coal and gas for cooking and heating, which is more convenient and labor-saving; as a result, the ways in which farmers can utilize straw are gradually decreasing. For farmers, burning straw has certain benefits for land cultivation; apart from being a more convenient way of dealing with it, it also kills pests that remain in the straw and soil. The ash resulting from burning serves as an excellent source of potassium fertilizer that can be used to enrich the soil. In addition to burning, some farmers choose to return the straw to the fields. Returning straw to the soil allows for its recycling as fertilizer, thereby helping farmers save on fertilizer costs. Straw returning to the field can be done using a combine harvester; if the land area is small, specialized machinery for straw return can be used, but this also increases the cost for farmers by several dozen yuan per mu. The disadvantage of returning straw to the field is that it can cause pests in the crops of the following year. A farmer in Hengshui, Hebei Province, said that since crushing straw and returning it to the field provides insulation, the eggstains of insects in the soil and within the straw are not killed by the low temperatures in winter, which leads to an increased burden in terms of pest control come spring. If local farmers return straw to the fields, they need to spray pesticides on the land during winter to kill insects, or water the land so that the eggs die off when it freezes; however, this undoubtedly increases the physical and financial costs for the farmers. The local livestock industry represents another outlet for the disposal of straw. Every year during the harvesting season, farmers can sell this straw to individual buyers who specialize in purchasing it. These buyers go to the fields to collect and bundle the straw, charging 30 yuan per mu. They then sell the collected straw to livestock farms as feed, or to food processing plants for the production of xylitol and other products. Compared to burning straw, farmers have to pay the buyers for their labor.

Why does the burning of straw continue despite repeated bans? Straw has been burning \"all along\", and ** correspondingly policies and support measures have also been introduced to minimize straw burning, with these efforts increasing year by year. In 2008, the General Office of the State Council issued the \"Opinions on Accelerating the Comprehensive Utilization of Crop Straws\" (hereinafter referred to as the \"Opinions\") in order to promote the comprehensive use of straws, achieve their transformation into resources and commodities, foster resource conservation and recycling, and at the same time increase farmers’ incomes. In the same year, the Ministry of Finance issued a notice on the Interim Measures for the Management of Subsidies for the Energy Utilization of Straw, providing a subsidy of 150 yuan per ton of straw to enterprises that utilize it, again with the aim of fostering a market for straw-based energy products. Researcher Meng Haibo, deputy director of the Institute of Rural Energy and Environmental Protection at the Agricultural Ministry’s Research Institute for Planning and Design, said, “It has been seven years since these guidelines were issued. The goal at that time was to achieve a comprehensive utilization rate of straw of over 80% by 2015.” As far as I know, according to statistics up to 2013, the comprehensive utilization rate of straw in most provinces and regions had already exceeded 70%. ” Where there are policies, there must be regulation, but implementing effective regulation is more difficult than formulating policies. For example, with the subsidy policy for straw energy utilization in 2008, difficulties in supervision led to some companies engaging in fraud and misappropriating funds. For example, a company that uses straw to generate electricity can receive subsidies, but the amount of straw burned as reported to the authorities is much higher than the actual amount; yet the authorities have no way to verify this, which prevents the subsidy policy from being effective. This disrupts market order and makes it difficult to implement good policies, eventually leading to the abandonment of such subsidy programs. A report published in the Nanjing Daily on the issue of burning straw in the region mentioned that due to the vast areas of farmland and the scattered distribution of farmers, limited human resources make it impossible to completely prevent straw burning. Moreover, townships are not the authorities responsible for enforcement, so there are insufficient measures for punishing such activities according to the law. It is also difficult to coordinate efforts among different cities; without such cooperation, it is impossible to resolve the problem comprehensively. It is concluded that the comprehensive utilization of straw and the promotion of banning its burning are tasks that require a long-term approach, while the current laws and regulations regarding the ban on straw burning are not very effective. Taking Henan as an example, according to China News Network, on September 21 this year, Taikang County established a command office for the prohibition of straw burning and related comprehensive measures during the autumn. In line with the requirements set by this command office, efforts are being made this year to ensure that there are no fires or emissions of smoke anywhere. To this end, the county established 6 supervision teams that conduct inspections in the rural areas on a daily basis. Local officials were ordered to go to every village, and each village set up a fire-prohibition command center composed of village officials and Party members. Chen Huijuan, the deputy director of the Environmental Protection Bureau in Taikang County, Zhoukou City, Henan Province, spends from 9 a.m. to 11 p.m. every day traveling back and forth between the 4 towns and villages under her supervision, conducting discussions as well as inspections, combining preventive measures with corrective actions, and checking to see whether the officials in charge in those towns and villages are at their posts. She is just one of the officials who did this, yet the results were not very significant. The enthusiasm of farmers for growing crops still needs to be **actively protected**, let alone the fact that the economic value of this \"agricultural waste\" in the form of straw is even lower. Li Guiying, a researcher at the Institute of Crop Science, Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences, said, “From the farmers’ perspective, if it cannot be returned to the fields and there is no suitable way to dispose of it, the only option is to burn it.” ”He said that to utilize straw as an energy source, whether by converting it into bioenergy such as biogas or by compressing it, strong promotion is needed – and by \"strong,\" he meant a level of effort greater than that of mere guidance or requests.

In the end, farmers still have not reaped the benefits of the ban on burning straw. From a **strategic perspective**, comprehensive management and utilization of straw is an inevitable trend; the \"five forms of utilization\" – namely as fertilizer, feed, energy source, substrate, and raw material – remain the main ways in which straw is utilized. Straw is different from coal; it is looser and not suitable for long-distance transportation. “Based on the available data, if the transportation distance of straw exceeds 30 kilometers, its logistics costs rise sharply, which affects economic profitability. Therefore, straw should be utilized locally. ”Meng Haibo said. Meng Haibo said that from a technical perspective, it is not difficult to convert straw into energy products, and the relevant technologies are already quite mature. For example, it can be turned into biomass briquettes as a substitute for coal, or used to produce biogas. As for emissions, particles can also be controlled through technological means. But the main reasons why straw burning has not been \"completely eradicated\" over the years, and why no mature industry has developed, are the insufficient policy support. Additionally, inadequate supporting policies and inconsistent implementation are also factors, which is why a commercial system comparable to that of fossil fuels such as coal has not been established. At the same time, **subsidies are directed at consumers, while there are no subsidies for farmers who produce straw or for the end consumers. Bioenergy can be developed as an emerging industry. A mature such industry not only turns straw into a valuable resource, but it also accelerates rural development and helps farmers become wealthier. Most importantly, it enables true sustainable development. However, the emergence, stability, and sustainability of a new industry rely on **support; merely having support is not enough. “For **, it is not possible to consider only economic benefits; straw must be put to use in the construction of new rural areas. Management alone is far from sufficient – a combination of removal and prevention is needed to address the issue effectively. ”Meng Haibo said. Overall, 50% of straw can be utilized through the \"five transformations,\" another 30% can be utilized by other methods, while 20% of the straw remains completely unused each year. Last year, 4.2 billion tons of standard coal were used nationwide. If 800 million tons of straw were converted into coal, that would equate to 400 million tons of standard coal, accounting for 10% of the total usage. Although it’s not a large proportion, it is still very important. **Investment-driven approaches have led to the creation of many factories and demonstration projects, but end-users do not benefit from these; their sole criterion for evaluation is price. Therefore, investment subsidies are useful for construction purposes, but they are of little use for operations.

How is straw handled abroad? The issue of straw disposal is persistent and is closely related to two aspects: one is China’s agricultural industrial structure, and the other is the farming patterns in Chinese agriculture. In some developed countries and regions abroad, the issue of straw has been addressed properly; it does not cause pollution and instead becomes a factor contributing to sustainable development. In Germany, the comprehensive utilization of straw has been industrialized, and a closed industrial chain has been established; incentives and subsidies have encouraged companies to make use of straw. For example, in Germany, when biogas plants using straw are built to generate electricity from biogas, **not only are funds provided for the construction of these plants and subsidies given to companies that produce green electricity, but subsidies are also offered to consumers who use electricity generated by such biogas plants. For instance, if a household’s electricity consumption is 30% derived from power plants that use straw as fuel, it will receive a certain discount on its electricity bill. Thus, from producers to intermediate distributors to end-users, the green energy industry, which previously had no competitive advantage over coal or natural gas, now gains competitiveness; this naturally eliminates straw burning and reduces pollution. In the United States, agriculture has almost achieved full mechanization on farms, and returning straw to the field is one of the main ways of dealing with it. In 2010, Li Guiying and her research team went to the United States to study bioenergy projects. They visited a farmer’s farm where 20,000 mu of crops were managed by only three or four people, with all farming tasks carried out using machinery. The farmer said that if his straw is to be purchased, an additional subsidy is required in addition to the purchase price, as using the straw as fertilizer reduces his fertilizer costs and enables a complete recycling cycle for the crops; if this cycle is to be disrupted, corresponding compensation must be provided. Of course, there are also many successful pilot projects and regions in the country. Meng Haibo said that at the end of 2014, his research team developed comprehensive plans for the controlled burning of straw in 18 counties and districts in Harbin. They divided the areas involved into specific responsibility zones, assigning tasks to various companies responsible for processing the straw completely, with responsibilities and rights being aligned. For example, a straw power plant that is capable of processing 300,000 tons of straw per year can utilize the straw resources from two neighboring villages and receive subsidies. If a fire breaks out in either of these villages, the company will face penalties and have its subsidies revoked. This contracting system can also help to effectively control the problem of straw burning. Post-interview note: The issue of burning straw is not a recent phenomenon, nor can it be resolved any time soon. Although China is a large agricultural country, it still has a long way to go in terms of the promotion and application of agricultural technologies as well as the standardized management of agriculture. In fact, this also reflects a social issue: farmers need to give up certain traditional ideas, and enterprises need to sacrifice some of their interests and take on more responsibilities. Only by working together can all parties find a proper destination for straw, which is also part of achieving the vision of green agriculture.

It’s good in theory, but it just can’t be implemented

Think back to when we were kids – everyone carried straw home to use it as compost; farmers couldn’t keep up with the demand. These days, no one wants it anymore

Also, people’s attitudes these days are different from before