2016-10-10 To safeguard the air quality of Taiwan's southwest coastal region, the Environmental Protection Bureau of Yunlin County Government joined hands with its counterparts from Chiayi County, Chiayi City, and Tainan City to implement the “Strengthened Joint Inspection on Outdoor Burning of Agricultural Waste Materials” on May 26, 2016. The agencies will work together to ban actions leading to air pollution from the burning of rice straws in outdoor spaces. Furthermore, patrols will also begin to strengthen crackdown efforts on outdoor burning activities, focusing its effort on high alert regions, as well as the sides of industrial roads and areas with a history of filed complaints. It seeks to effectively put a stop to outdoor burning of rice straw stacks and prevent air pollution.
In an effort to reinforce supervision to significantly reduce fine particulate matter, the Environmental Protection Bureau of Yunlin County Government held the “Seminar on First-Season Rice Crop Outdoor Burning Inspection and Guidance for Seven Municipalities of Central Taiwan and Southwest Taiwan” on June 16th. Through experience sharing and exchanges among the public sector, academia and the private sector, the participants explored possible approaches toward reduction strategies for outdoor burning of agricultural waste and joint inspection and supervision. During the conference, the Deputy Director of Taichung District Agricultural Research and Extension Station Kao Te-chen pointed out that based on the institute’s research findings, the burning of rice straws will lead to side effects such as decreased height of rice plants, earlier blossoming by 3 to 5 days, and reduction of single crop yield by 10 to 15 percent.
Lin Chang-zao, Director General of the Environmental Protection Bureau of Yunlin County Government, called upon farmers to replace the traditional approach of burning dried straws with reutilization. The County government’s Agricultural Department held demonstration sessions of subsidized organic fertilizers made from fermented rice straws at Dapi and Lunbei in 2016. Farmers who are interested can submit their application at their local farmers’ associations. The agency reminds farmers not to burn rice straws, garbage, or waste materials in the open air. Those found guilty of such actions will be fined between NT$ 5,000 and NT$ 100,000. Members of the public who notice such violations can report the incident by calling toll-free 0800-556-003. The Environmental Protection Bureau will dispatch inspectors to the site immediately.