Alternative solutions of rice straw open burning in An Giang province

Abstract

An Giang has a rice output of over 4 million tons/year, ranking first in the country, thus generating a very large amount of straw. However, people still have the habit of burning straw after harvest, causing environmental pollution. Currently, a number of straw reuse models have been applied to replace open burning to improve economic efficiency and reduce environmental pollution. The current paper describes the results of pilot studies of 07 mushroom cultivation, 15 treatment of straw with urea for fodder production, and 14 composting farms. The main research methods applied include experimental implementation on a household scale, straw collected from fields, chemicals (i.e. lime, formaldehyde, urea etc.) and microbial products (Trichoderma) is purchased on the market; economic efficiency assessment is based on statistical analysis of actual measurement data; assessement of the greenhouse gas emissions based on the Decision 2626/QD-BTNMT. The study results shown that all models had a return on investment value close to or less than 1 year and the benefit-cost-ratio as low as 38%. This is very important for the farmers as they do not have much capital to invest.