Funan-Based Driver Launches Fruitful New Career as Straw Trader

Abstract:  An experienced and knowledgeable driver, Luo Haijian decided to become a straw trader when he became aware of the subsidy and award policies pertaining to the collection, storage, and sale of the by-product that had been implemented in Funan. He began connecting farmers with enterprises that utilise the by-product, has increased his income and created new jobs, and even founded a cooperative when his operation began to expand.

Main Body

Luo Haijian, chairman of the Funan Haijian Agricultural Machinery Cooperative, inspects bales of straw. (Photo by You Yi/People's Daily)

Implementation of the policies that reward traders; formation of a collection, storage, and transportation system that extends through the county, township, and village levels; production of various straw-based products; utilisation of remote sensing satellite equipment to enforce a burning ban; and other measures have enabled Funan County of Fuyang City, Anhui Province, to make comprehensive use of its straw. Please refer to the following links for more information:

Funan County Unlocks the Power of Straw

Reducing Expenses and Boosting Incomes with Biogas in Funan County

Previously an experienced and knowledgeable driver, Luo Haijian decided to become a straw trader when he became aware of the subsidy and award policies pertaining to the collection, storage, and sale of the by-product that had been implemented in Funan.

He rented rakes, balers, and other machinery; created a straw harvesting team; and began storing the by-product after purchasing it from farmers and selling it to enterprises that require it. The entrepreneur eventually started purchasing agricultural machinery as his business expanded and established the Funan Haijian Agricultural Machinery Cooperative in October 2019.

The organisation owned more than 110 pieces of agricultural machinery, such as balers, rakes, tractors, and forklifts, as of July 2022. A detailed list issued on Sept. 14, 2018, which was provided by Luo, clearly lists the awards and subsidies that his organization received for the purchase of straw processing equipment, such as a RMB30,000 national agricultural machinery subsidy and a RMB11,700 subsidy from the Funan government for a RMB108,000 baler.

The trader signs straw procurement and storage contracts with farmers before the summer and autumn harvests every year. His cooperative received a total of over 50,000 mu's worth of straw collection and storage orders from farmers in more than 10 villages in three of Funan's townships during the 2022 summer harvest season.

Wanghua Township's Wangzhai Village is one of the villages that he purchased straw in. It took the Funan Haijian Agricultural Machinery Cooperative just a week to harvest, pack, and transport the 1,000 tonnes of straw that was produced across the more than 5,000 mu of wheat fields in the village during the summer in 2022.

A farmer most of his life, Wangzhai resident Liu Weifu used to worry about his straw until a few years ago. Now a baler of the cooperative following closely the large harvester shuttles around the sixty-year-old's 6-mu grain field mowing and gathering the by-product after harvests, producing compact bales that can easily be transported and stored. Luo usually drives the machinery, and Liu loads the resulting bales onto a truck. The arrangement has enabled the farmer to increase his income and saves him time and effort.

The straw that is produced in the Funan area has sold for around RMB200 per tonne in recent years. Some villagers also help traders transport it with their own vehicles and charge RMB8 per bale. Liu is one of the people who does so and earned more than RMB8,000 in seven days during the 2022 summer harvest period.

"We don't need to worry about how we will deal with our straw anymore now that traders come to our village,"Liu mentioned on a hot July day in 2022, " and we have also gained a new income stream."

In the past, traders stored straw in open-air environments after procuring it, which generally resulted in it getting soaked and mouldy after being exposed to the heavy rainfall that often occurs during the summer, which decreased its quality. In August 2018, Anhui issued a three-year comprehensive straw utilisation plan involving the creation of a straw collection, storage, and transportation system that would extend through its counties, townships, and villages and make it possible for farmers to sell their straw in a convenient manner and the by-product to be stored safely, and began granting awards and subsidies to encourage people, enterprises, and other organisations to engage in the undertaking.

In December 2021, the Anhui Provincial Market Supervision and Administration Bureau issued clearly written standardised technical guidelines specifying requirements pertaining to the location and layout of straw storage facilities, safety-oriented prevention and control measures, and other rules governing various aspects of the undertaking.

"The subsidies that the government provides and the preferential policies that it has implemented have resulted in traders being willing to invest," Luo explained.

The Funan Haijian Agricultural Machinery Cooperative built a standardised straw collection and storage centre in Wanghua Township and another in Miaoji Township capable of storing over 10,000 tonnes of straw in total. The Wanghua centre cost more than RMB2.2 million and came online in November 2020. The government awarded the cooperative RMB600,000, and the organisation rents the land that the facility is located on from Wangzhai at the preferential rate of RMB900 per mu per year.

Capable of storing more than 4,000 tonnes of straw, the 23-mu centre serves farmland within a 7-km radius. High-reach forklifts shuttle back and forth inside the 6-metre-high warehouse with stainless-steel roofing, stacking straw bales neatly after they are weighed on digital platform scales. Fire passages are retained between stacks no wider than designated widths; fire hydrants, booster pumps, and other facilities have been installed at regular intervals; and cameras make it possible to monitor the facility in real time. Grinding and other preliminary processing also occurs onsite when the moisture content in straw is found to be 15% wet basis, which lowers transportation costs by reducing straw volume and provides villagers with job opportunities near their homes.

Luo mentioned that his cooperative sold more than 5,600 tonnes of straw to an ecological technology enterprise during the first half of 2022.

Promotion of straw storage and utilisation reinforces the normalisation of stubble burning bans. More than 10 special training sessions have been conducted for straw traders since 2017, and total average attendance has come to around 300 per year.

"The training is very good and helps us understand the comprehensive straw utilisation policies [that have been enacted] better," Luo noted.

The trader often encounters high-quality straw when purchasing and storing it and felt that it was a pity for it to ultimately end up being incinerated at biogas stations. A lecture covering straw utilisation that he attended in 2021 eventually inspired him to establish a factory to turn straw into feed. He gained the support of the Funan Agriculture and Rural Affairs Department, and the project has been progressing smoothly. A tentative location has been determined, and the facility is expected to be completed and put into operation during the 2022 autumn harvest period.

For more information, please contact WFP China COE (wfpcn.coe@wfp.org)

Read More:

1.Funan County Unlocks the Power of Straw

http://www.wfpchinacoe.net/2022-08/29/content_78394533.shtml

2. Reducing Expenses and Boosting Incomes with Biogas in Funan County

http://www.wfpchinacoe.net/2022-08/29/content_78394739.shtml

Source：https://baijiahao.baidu.com/s?id=1738376783931871140&wfr=spider&for=pc