How to Balance Bird Protection and Farmers' Interests

Recently, villagers in several remote townships in Huguan County, Shaanxi Province, have been distressed by birds. In many farmers' spring-sown film-mulched corn, soybeans and other crops, sparrows, pheasants and other birds frequently peck at the seeds, and some of these birds are nationally protected animals that cannot be killed at will. Although most farmers have taken out planting insurance, bird pecking is not covered by the insurance policy, so they cannot file claims.

Protecting the survival of birds while also ensuring that farmers' interests are not harmed has become a difficult problem waiting to be solved. If this problem is not solved well, first, it will lead to the situation where "birds harm the land for a while, but the land fails the people for a whole year," directly affecting farmers' income growth; second, farmers suffering from the damage of sparrows and pheasants lack effective solutions, and over time they will inevitably lose patience, and culling may occur. Either outcome is something people do not want to see.

Local management departments should give farmers more technical and manpower support to help them establish complete bird-deterrence methods. On this basis, they should also implement and improve corresponding supporting loss compensation policies and carry out agricultural insurance innovation. In short, farmers must not be left to bear the cost of protecting wild birds alone.