从“生态包袱”到“绿色存折”——襄阳推进秸秆综合利用From 'Ecological Burden' to 'Green Savings Account' — Xiangyang Promotes Comprehensive Utilization of Straw

On October 12, in a recently harvested rice field in Wangligang Village, Zhulinqiao Town, Laohekou City, hay rakes and balers shuttled back and forth, neatly packing the scattered straw, which was then loaded onto trucks and transported to processing plants. Major grain grower Li Jianbing stood on the ridge and did the math: "In the past, there was nowhere to put straw. Burning it risked fines, but not burning it delayed wheat planting. Now that machines can bale and take it away from the field, we save on clearing costs and can even make extra money from another batch of straw. It’s truly beneficial both ways!"

Li Jianbing's sense of gain reflects the profound changes in the field of straw comprehensive utilization in Xiangyang City. As an agricultural city known as a "hundred-billion-pound granary," Xiangyang produces about 6.9 million tons of straw annually. In the past, open-air burning was farmers' reluctant choice and a prominent issue for air pollution control. Today, the local approach combines addressing loopholes with promoting usage to encourage prohibition, following the path of the "five transformations"—fertilization, fodder, substrate, raw material, and energy—turning what was once an "ecological burden" into a "green savings account."

Full-chain collection and storage, allowing straw to be effectively gathered. Yicheng City has 1.54 million mu of cultivated land, with an annual total straw production of about 1 million tons. This year, Yicheng City introduced Huiling (Xiangyang) Agricultural Technology Co., Ltd. to establish a full-chain collection and storage model of 'field collection, village-level concentration, and enterprise support.' The enterprise deployed machines such as hay rakes and balers to carry out mechanized field baling operations, purchasing 500,000 tons of straw annually, generating an annual output value of 30 million yuan, and providing employment for more than 30 people. The city has set up 12 dedicated straw storage points, and the processed straw products are sold to provinces including Hunan, Henan, Yunnan, Guizhou, and Sichuan. At present, the city has established a straw collection and storage network covering key townships, with 158 market entities involved in 'five-type' utilization operating in the fields, among which 22 entities have an annual usage of over 10,000 tons.

A circular industry chain allows straw to be "used effectively." At Laohokou Jiusheng Animal Husbandry Co., Ltd., bundles of corn straw are crushed and fermented into high-quality silage for beef cattle. The company has more than 3,000 cattle and annually processes over 40,000 tons of corn and rice silage straw. Hubei Changtou Shuangxin Environmental Protection Technology Co., Ltd., with a total investment of 105 million yuan, has built a biogas project that can annually utilize 45,000 tons of straw and 72,000 tons of livestock manure. Through the full chain conversion process, including anaerobic digestion, biogas purification, and combined heat and power generation from biogas, the produced biogas is connected to the urban pipeline network or used for electricity generation, while the digestate is processed into organic fertilizer. In the Qinghe Management Area of Nanzhang County, the Sanzhong Planting Professional Cooperative organizes more than ten semi-feed-in harvesters to harvest rice. The straw is collected centrally and sent to Gansu, Qinghai, Inner Mongolia, and other places as sand control material for desert management in the western regions.

Returning straw to the fields allows it to 'return to the soil.' As a key part of fertilization in the 'fivefold' utilization of straw, Xiangcheng District adheres to the principle of 'primarily returning to the field, supplemented by diversified use.' In suitable areas, the district promotes the practice of crushing straw and plowing it back into the soil to enhance soil fertility. Currently, the comprehensive utilization rate of straw in the district has remained stable at over 90% for many years.

Behind the success, challenges remain. A relevant official from the Municipal Ecology and Environment Bureau stated that there are still shortcomings in Xiangyang City's comprehensive straw utilization, such as uneven distribution of market entities and insufficient overall absorption capacity. The ban on burning cannot rely solely on 'blocking'; it must also rely on 'guiding.' Next, the local government will focus on three aspects: first, instilling the reasoning into farmers’ minds; second, controlling the source at the field ridges by promoting advanced machinery such as low-stubble harvesters; third, paving the way for enterprises by cultivating specialized collection and storage entities and guiding enterprises toward deep-value utilization of straw.

[Source: Xiangyang Daily]

[Editor: Xiaoneng]