Bustling straw harvesting in Nghe An fields

Clip: Quang An

Nghe An is one of the localities with the largest agricultural land area in the country with 1.4 million hectares. Particularly for rice production, each year the whole province cultivates about 180,000 hectares of spring and summer-autumn crops. Therefore, the amount of straw by-products after each harvest is very large, however, in many fields, straw is wasted or burned, causing environmental pollution. Photo: Quang An

It is currently the main spring rice harvest season, so straw in the fields is abundant. It is not difficult to see straw collection machines operating at full capacity in the fields of Nghe An. Photo: Quang An

Mr. Hoang Van Anh, Hung Nguyen district - one of the long-time straw collectors said: "In the past, people often mobilized manpower to collect straw to store as animal feed. Households that did not use it would burn it, not only wasting it but also polluting the environment. To take advantage of this by-product, we invested in 5 straw collectors with a total cost of nearly 2 billion VND, and at the same time hired more workers to collect straw in all districts in the province." Photo: Quang An

The machine will roll the straw into the spinning wheel, then automatically bundle it into bundles about 1 meter long and about 40cm in diameter. Photo: Quang An

Once the machine rolls the straw, the workers’ job is to arrange the straw rolls neatly and in a straight line to hold as many rolls as possible. This job requires continuous work in hot, dusty weather, so the workers must also wear tight clothing to avoid the sun and avoid burns. Photo: Quang An

The straw is bundled into rolls, and it takes about 1 minute for the machine to make these rolls. On average, each sao of rice will produce about 6 - 7 rolls of straw. Photo: Quang An

Currently, each roll of straw costs from 30,000 to 40,000 VND, and at peak times it can reach up to 50,000 VND. People are excited to have more income from by-products. Photo: Quang An

After being rolled, the straw will be loaded onto trucks, brought to the warehouse for storage, and then imported to units inside and outside the province. According to calculations by Hung Nguyen district, 1 hectare of rice will yield over 6 tons of straw, and the whole district is estimated to have about 30,000 tons of straw after the end of the spring crop. Photo: Quang An

Straw collection work depends a lot on the weather, can only be done on hot sunny days, on rainy days, the straw is wet, straw rolling cannot be done, the quality of straw is not guaranteed to be imported to the units. Due to continuous operation, the machine often needs to be refueled to operate all day long. Photo: Quang An

Straw collecting machines operate at full capacity in the fields of Hung Tay commune, Hung Nguyen district, with smoke and dust rising in the background as people burn straw. After finishing this field, the machines will move on to the next. Photo: Quang An

Source: https://baonghean.vn/nhon-nhip-thu-hoach-rom-tren-cac-canh-dong-xu-nghe-post289592.html