Why must straw be burned no matter what? See how Chinese farmers deal with it

Every year at this time of year, city dwellers, as the PM2.5 index rises, focus their attention on the corn stalks in the crop fields, firmly believing that the change in air quality is caused by farmers burning straw, and this gives rise to endless verbal battles.

We have to admit that, with the increase in the level of mechanization and the rise in farmers' environmental awareness, combined with some high-pressure anti-burning measures by local governments, this year the pressure that straw burning places on the air has already eased considerably. But even so, straw burning has not completely disappeared. Why is that?

1. The whole village is burning

“I had no choice but to burn it. I burned it, and our whole village burned it!” After National Day, a friend told me.

This friend usually works in Zhengzhou and went home to help during the autumn harvest. His hometown is a certain village in a certain county in Zhoukou, Henan. Of course, why I use “certain” you know. For convenience of narration, I will use “Y” to refer to this friend.

In Y's hometown, after the corn is harvested, the corn stalks are not stacked up, but are all cut down and left lying in the fields. That way, after drying for two days, the thick, dry layer of stalks becomes a natural fire field.

“There are inspections during the day, and inspections at night too, and in the latter half of the night, a police car circles around the village, basically coming once every other day.” Mr. Y said.

“You can't light it in the latter half of the night. In late autumn there is a lot of dew. That day we lit it at noon, when the sun was at its fiercest,” Mr. Y described: first three or five people discussed: “Let's light it”? “All right!”. When villagers farther away saw the fire start, they all ran toward their own fields too.

“Some people first lit their own family's field, and when they saw that no one had come to the neighbor's field, they simply lit the neighbor's field too!” Mr. Y said, “But we know what we're doing. Some fields grow vegetables, some grow medicinal herbs, and some have corn that has not yet been harvested. Everyone consciously isolated those in advance to prevent the fire from spreading. This kind of moral principle still has to be observed.”

The fire rose with the wind and spread northward. In only about ten minutes, a whole mu of land could be completely burned over. In the whole village, several hundred mu of land basically caught fire at the same time. After the fire passed, the fields were left with a layer of black plant ash, which is still pretty good fertilizer!

This friend later patiently checked the situation of the whole village, “basically 95% of the cultivated land was burned.” I once experienced a big fire in the fields after an autumn harvest, a fire all across the fields, as if it felt like the sky was about to catch fire too. Naturally, the suffocating feeling in that air also left a deep impression.

It is impossible to calculate exactly how many ignition points there were. Y's village may count as one of them! “Taikang County was economically penalized 20 million yuan this time. It really is a bit unfair.” Mr. Y said with a smile.

“Does no one manage this?” I asked.

“Of course someone manages it. The village Party secretary has nagged about it many times, saying not to light it, and the higher-ups often inspect too.” Y answered: “He says you can't light it, so you definitely can't light it in front of him, right? After he leaves, you go light it. Doesn't that work?”

As early as the summer harvest, on the roads of Y's village, slogans were hung: “Burning straw is punished by 15 days' detention and a 500 yuan fine.”

“Arrest two or three people. What use is that? The law does not punish the many!” Mr. Y asked me back.

2. Why do farmers like to burn straw?

Why do farmers like to burn straw? I think everyone has an answer in their heart. And after chatting with Mr. Y, my understanding gradually became more comprehensive and clear.

First, farmers themselves do not use it.

At least twenty years ago, straw was a treasure in rural areas. Besides feeding livestock, its biggest use was for burning as fuel to cook meals. But now, rural areas are mainly inhabited by the old, the weak, the sick, and the disabled. There are few people, so fires are lit less often. In addition, gas stoves and induction cookers are now mainly used. Cooking with firewood is pretty much just a signboard for specialty meals.

“The technology for returning straw to the field is actually not mature, nor is it practical.” Mr. Y said, “The autumn harvest is immediately followed by wheat sowing. The timing is too tight. It has to be done within the 3 to 5 days before Cold Dew, so dealing with the straw is even more of a burden.”