‘Mountain of money’ from the 47 million tons of straw gone to waste

Tens of millions of tons of straw are being wasted

According to Le Thanh Tung, Deputy Director of the Department of Crop Production (Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development), currently Vietnam produces approximately 43 million tons of rice each year, followed by 47 million tons of straw and husk. The Mekong Delta in particular produces roughly 24 million tons of rice per year, equivalent to 26 - 27 million tons of straw.

But only 30% of rice straw is collected and used for different purposes, and the remaining 70% (32 - 33 million tons/year) is wasted. Most farmers usually burn straw to discard them after harvesting rice. This not only wastes resources, causes smoke pollution, generates many toxic substances, reduces nutrition content and changes the mechanical composition of the soil. In case the straw is not burned, farmers would bury it in flooded fields, resulting in anaerobic decomposition which increases greenhouse gas emissions and causes organic poisoning for the next rice crop.

Truong Canh Tuyen, Vice Chairman of Hau Giang People's Committee, said that as a purely agricultural province, Hau Giang's rice production area is more than 190,000 ha per year, the rice output exceeds 1 million tons, the same as the amount of straw discharged. However, the rate of rice straw collection is only 15 - 20%, mainly used for mushroom cultivation, not yet diversified in terms of use purposes.

“In order to improve the rice value chain, reduce environmental pollution and greenhouse gas emissions from cultivation, mechanization technology would be an effective method to collect straw and create added value. The agricultural sector needs to provide guidance so that farmers can use rice straw to grow straw mushrooms, make animal feed, cover vegetable crops and orchards, and compost organic fertilizers. Farmers should increase awareness through staw treatment activities, creating many useful products and increasing income," said Vice Chairman Truong Canh Tuyen.

Good straw treatment means “more money in the pocket”

According to Cao Duc Phat, Chairman of the Board of Directors of the International Rice Research Institute (IRRI), Vietnam is a country where the average rice production acreage per household is not large. In the Mekong Delta, “the rice granary”, it is less than 1 ha/household. One thing to note is that the income from rice farming is not high. In the winter-spring crop when farmers have a successful harvest, the total profit is only 20 million VND/ha. But even that little source of income is under threat with the biggest threats being climate change and sea level rise.

Therefore, in the production process, farmers must pay attention and take measures so as not to exacerbate climate change. In addition to applying advanced farming methods, economical and efficient use of natural resources especially water resources, farmers need to collect straw after each harvest.

“If we apply mechanization to collect rice straw and have certain solutions to treat, process and put it to good use such as growing straw mushrooms, covering vegetable gardens, making animal feed, turning straw into useful agro-products. Farmers can also process them into organic fertilizer to return nutrition to the fields according to the circular farming model, thereby creating a massive source of money for farmers," said IRRI Chairman Cao Duc Phat.

According to Deputy Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development Tran Thanh Nam, Vietnam's rice production still has inadequacies. Post-harvest losses are in large amounts, up to 10%. Agricultural by-products such as straw are a money-making resource but are still being wasted.

“The task of the agricultural sector is not only to restructure commodity production industries but also to develop sustainable production, add value to products, and help farmers increase income while maintaining a good condition of their fields so that they can produce rice for a long time,” said Deputy Minister Tran Thanh Nam.

The Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development is implementing more projects on mechanization for agroproduction, having its focus on developing a mechanization center in the Mekong Delta. expected to operate in Hau Giang province. Not only for display purposes, this center is also the fruit of countless efforts from institutes and universities. It promotes the creative role of enterprises and farmers who are passionate about researching and manufacturing machinery.

The center will be the focal point linking institutes, schools, businesses and cooperatives under the support of the government and banks participating in preferential credit loans, thereby speeding up the application of mechanization to effectively serve agroproduction.