Leyte SP ordinance bans burning of rice straws

By Philippine Information Agency (PIA 8)
December 21, 2007

TACLOBAN CITY, Leyte  –  In a giant move for the protection of the environment, the Sangguniang Panlalawigan ng Leyte recently passed and Governor Carlos Jericho Petilla approved, an ordinance prohibiting the burning of rice straws or hays and providing penalties to violators thereof.

So farmers, beware! Farmers who are still into burning the rice straw after the harvest season should think twice now. Burning the rice straw is not only harmful to the environment; it also wastes the natural fertilizer that is in the rice straw. Plus, if they are caught burning their rice straws, they will be penalized by the Provincial Government of Leyte.

Leyte Provincial Ordinance No. 07-05, authored by Hon. Rowil G. Batan and Hon. Evangeline Esperas and co-authored by Hon. Antonio Jabilles, Hon. Rolando Piamonte Sr., and Hon. Carlo Loreto, provides that the burning of rice straws or hays by any person after threshing is strictly prohibited.

In passing the Ordinance, the Sangguniang Panlalawigan took cognizance of the fact that rice straws or rice hays are classified as among the organic fertilizers which could add nutrients to the soil once left to rot and could contribute to more rice production and more income to the farmers.

Burning of rice straws is harmful to the environment. Unfortunately, it has been observed that the common practice of farmers is to burn the rice straws after threshing. The Sangguniang Panlalawigan of Leyte therefore, found it a cogent need for some measures to be instituted in order to prevent further damage to the environment.

The Sangguniang Panlalawigan members also believe that if the farmers will just leave the rice straws to rot in the fields, the use of commercial fertilizer input will be minimized and yet, income of farmers in terms of rice production will be increased.

In a previous interview with Department of Agriculture Regional Executive Director Leo Caneda, he said that whatever nutrients palay got from the soil, are the same nutrients that are present in the rice straw.

He said that through the Modified Rapid Composting method, the decomposition of the rice straw will be hastened to three to four weeks instead of the usual three to four months decomposition period.

Modified Rapid Composting, Director Caneda said, is one way of minimizing the use of commercial fertilizer with the use of decomposed rice straw. Every of inbred palay yields about two tons of rice straw while for every ton of hybrid rice, about one ton of rice straw is generated.

For every five tons of rice straw, the farmer needs four bottles of trichoderma, 500 kilos animal manure and plants which are rich in nitrogen. Trichoderma, according to Dir. Caneda, is a kind of fungus (amag) that hastens the decay of the compost. This is also called activator.

Trichoderma is available at the Regional and Provincial Soils Laboratory of the Department of Agriculture, Director Caneda revealed. For the techno-demo farms, the trichoderma will be given for free, Director Caneda added. The at-cost price for every bottle of trichoderma is P30.00.

By turning ten tons of rice straw into organic fertilizer right in the field, the farmer saved five and a half sacks of 14-14-14, five sacks of urea and 8 sacks of muriate of potash. Because of this, instead of putting 5 sacks of inorganic fertilizer for every hectare, the farmer will just use five sacks of chicken dung and two sacks of urea.