Double benefits from agricultural waste and by-products

People in Thanh Minh commune (Thach Thanh) soak and compost agricultural waste and by-products to make organic fertilizer.

Faced with the current situation of high animal feed prices, livestock farmers in localities in the province have taken advantage of corn stalks, straw, vegetables, etc., chopped, dried, and fermented to make nutritious feed for livestock and poultry at low cost. In addition, taking advantage of dried PPP as animal feed is a way for people to store for a long time, especially to proactively source food for cattle and buffaloes during the cold rainy season. Ms. Le Thi Tram, Hoang Dong commune (Hoang Hoa), said: “Previously, after each rice harvest, I and the people in the commune still had the habit of burning straw right in the fields. After attending many training courses, I learned that this has disrupted beneficial microorganisms and nutrients, causing the land to increasingly degrade and unbalance the field ecosystem. Recently, to proactively create a source of food for my family's cows, in addition to growing grass for livestock, I have kept the amount of straw for animal feed. Corn and straw after being composted will increase nutritional value, crude protein content, increase digestion rate, help cows eat more and produce higher productivity. Besides, the composting method is also easy to implement, taking advantage of available conditions in the livestock area such as built tanks, empty pens, plastic barrels... using some ingredients mixed with straw, then compacted, limiting air from entering”.

In addition, in many localities in the province, people have formed the habit of making organic fertilizer from straw. Mr. Ngo Van Ngoc, Thieu Ngoc commune (Thieu Hoa), said: “After harvesting rice, the amount of straw collected will be dried and mixed with biological products. After a period of time, it will create organic fertilizer to fertilize the soil before planting fruit trees, vegetables... From there, it will increase the fertility of the soil, making the soil loose and porous... Most importantly, we have saved a lot of costs on buying chemical fertilizers, improving the productivity and quality of agricultural products".

For poultry, Ms. Trinh Thi Thuy, Cam Tam commune (Cam Thuy) went to corn growers in the commune to ask for leaves, stems, and corn kernels that were not of guaranteed quality, then ground them into small pieces to feed the chickens. In fact, each kilogram of corn stalks contains from 600 to 700 grams of protein and about 320 grams of fiber, which can be fed directly to chickens or fermented for long-term preservation, while corn kernels can be ground and mixed with rice bran to feed chickens. Although raising chickens using this method requires more care, it has more benefits than raising them using industrial feed. Accordingly, chickens grow faster, have yellow skin, firmer meat, and are more delicious. On the other hand, the waste when chickens eat this natural food limits bad odors and causes less environmental pollution than feeding industrial feed.

In livestock farming, especially pig farming, many households have invested in building biogas tanks for biosafety farming. Accordingly, on farms, closed barns are designed into 2 parts, in which 1/2 of the rear barn floor area is lower than 1/2 of the front barn floor area; at the end of the barn, a waste drainage pipe is placed connecting to the biogas tank to treat and eliminate odors, reducing environmental pollutants. After being treated, livestock waste will be put into the biogas tank to make gas or wastewater to irrigate crops. From there, not only does it treat the environment in livestock farming but it also saves living expenses for the family.

From the models, it can be seen that if properly utilized and processed, agricultural PPP will be a source of raw materials that brings double benefits to production, because it not only contributes to creating safe agricultural products, reducing investment costs, helping people improve economic efficiency but also minimizes environmental pollution. However, when utilizing agricultural PPP resources, people also need to pay attention to processing techniques such as drying, drying, grinding... to bring high efficiency to livestock and poultry or the method of fermenting to preserve for a long time without losing nutrients; determine the needs of use, nutritional ratio for each type of livestock at different stages... In addition, breeders should promote the application of techniques in collecting, mixing, composting... to have a source of organic fertilizer that ensures quality.

Article and photos: Le Ngoc

Source: https://baothanhhoa.vn/loi-ich-kep-tu-nguon-phe-pham-phu-pham-nong-nghiep-245530.htm