It is the harvest time for middle- and late-season rice, but also a peak period of straw burning which will result in air pollution. However, the air quality in Ningxiang City remained good from September 20 to October 19. What has Ningxiang done to prevent straw burning?
“On the one hand, we established a joint prevention and control mechanism in community grids. On the other hand, by improving the comprehensive utilization of straw, the amount of straw that needs to be burned is controlled from the source,” according to an official from Ningxiang Blue Sky Work Leading Group Office.

Since the middle of September, the office, together with the Bureau of Agriculture and Rural Affairs has carried out continuous supervision and inspection in towns and sub-districts, stopped burning behaviors with satellite remote sensing monitoring, inspections and reports.

Meanwhile, towns and sub-districts have included every village, every household and every field into grid management, publicized burning ban and carried out inspections.

In addition, Ningxiang has also implemented comprehensive utilization of straw to control straw burning from the source.  

“I didn't expect that dumped straw could be sold,” said Li Yingtai, a villager of Yanhe Village, Huilongpu Town. “The straw used to rot in the field or be burned. In order to curb air pollution, the government has banned straw burning in recent years. And I collect the dumped straw and sell it to a nearby agricultural company, which makes some money.”

Straw recycling and comprehensive utilization is a better way to deal with rice straw. The straw can sell more than 500 yuan a ton. If paddy fields can produce about 300 kg per mu, each mu can increase an income of about 200 yuan, and more than 30,000 mu (about 2,000 hectares) can generate an income of about 7 million yuan. If the recycled straw is reprocessed into fuel rods, bio-organic and fertilizer, the economic benefits will be more considerable.

In order to realize the comprehensive utilization of straw, Ningxiang has completed, upgraded and started construction of straw collection and storage centers in many towns. Meanwhile, the large-scale comprehensive utilization of straw has been pushed forward actively.

“Straw burning ban is an objective requirement of scientific development and ecological conservation and an urgent need to benefit posterity and protect air quality. Next, we will closely cooperate with relevant units, towns and sub-districts to severely punish straw burning behaviors and promote the burning ban,” an official from Ningxiang Blue Sky Work Leading Group Office said.