After the crops are harvested, a large amount of straw is stacked in the fields. In South Africa, the most straightforward way for people to deal with these straws is to burn them, but burning straws bring great harm. For example, some cities have severe haze caused by burning straw, which has a great impact on people’s health and environment. In the recent years, the manual hay baler machine is a hot sale product, for the awareness of environmental protection has been improving.

So, what are the harm of burning straw?

Harm human health
Burning straw is harmful for human health. Crop straw contains nitrogen, phosphorus, potassium, hydrocarbons and organic sulfur. In particular, if the straw is not yet dry, a large amount of harmful substances will be generated after incomplete combustion.

It may also produce secondary pollutants such as ozone. Secondly, when burning straw, if the concentration of inhalable particle reaches a certain level, it can hurt people’s eyes, nose and throat. Even worse, it can cause cough, chest tightness and tearing.

Reduce soil fertility and the land become barren
Most of the nitrogen, sulfur and other elements contained in the straw are converted into volatile substances or particles and enter the atmosphere. Only some materials such as potassium are retained in the soil, and nutrient elements are severely lost, which is not conducive to soil fertility.

It is determined that each straw burning will reduce the soil organic matter by 0.2 to 0.3 percentage points. If these soil organic matter are generated by returning straw to the field, it usually takes 5 to 10 years in a row.

Studies have shown that the number of bacteria and fungi in the soil after incineration was reduced by 85.95%, 78.58%, and 87.28% respectively.

In summary, the harm caused by straw combustion is extremely great. After reading this article, Corn sheller machine manufacturer believe that everyone has a preliminary understanding about it. I hope people in South Africa can improve their awareness and widely use silage baler to reduce the harm of burning straw.