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Shredded Residue
Baskets of Shredded Crop residue

Mix with microbes

Add to soil & sell the surplus

Rice field in Thailand
The Rotary Shredder/Stop The Burning

Stop The Burning - Shred Instead

หยุดเผา บดย่อยแทน

WHAT IS THE SHREDDER INITIATIVE ?

The Shredder Initiative is a practical, non profit, endeavour to help Thailand's small-scale farmers lift themselves out of the poverty trap by shredding their crop residue instead of burning it which is a major cause of haze. We, the Rotary Club of Lampang, asked farmers why they continued to burn crop residue even though they knew that it poisoned the air we all breathe? Their reply was that they had no affordable alternative means of disposal. So we designed the shredder to give them that alternative. It shreds the residue into fine pieces which, when mixed with microbes, makes organic compost & fertilser to enrich their soil. Surplus fertiliser can be sold and niche markets created for their organic crop. Surplus residue can be used to make paper. The Shredder can be easily carried on the back of a pickup truck. It is designed to be shared to encourage farmers to cooperate with one another and work together to achieve economies of scale. Now they are ploughing ahead..

"A simple yet effective way to prevent farmers in the North from burning forest & reduce haze"

Korn Chatikavanij

Finance Minister 2008/11

Burning money

Polluting the air

Growing income

Shredding the residue

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GLOBAL GRANT APPROVED

Rotary International awarded the Rotary Clubs of Lampang and Hilo a Global Grant of $60,000 to build 21 Shredders. They are now built and distributed and at work in farming communities in Lampang and elsewhere. A full evaluation is now in process.

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The Rotary Shredder

The Problem

Every year during the post agricultural harvest season, January to April, much of Thailand is blanketed by smoke, often called 'Haze', from the burning of agricultural residues. The particulate content of the smoke is much higher than international recommended safety levels. This impacts severely on public health causing death and hospitalization as well as increased risk of long-term effects (cancers, heart and lung disease) and can severely harm the economy of the region.

 

The Cause

Virtually all methods of farming produce organic waste, often referred to as biomass. The faster, cheapest, and least labor-intensive way to dispose of it is by burning it, which is a major cause of the annual haze. But it is not waste.

The Loss

The biggest cash crops of Thailand are rice and maize. There are about 24 million acres of rice cultivation producing about 26 million tons of rice and 26 million tons of above ground residue (Harvest Index of 0.50).  For maize, there are 2.8 million acres of cultivation, which generates 4.6 million tons of yield and 4.6 million tons of above ground residue (Harvest Index of 0.50). Unfortunately, only 10% of those residues are reused. The rest is burnt. 

 

If 30.6 million ton of biomass containing approximately 0.65% of nitrogen (N), 0.10% of phosphorus (P) and 1.55% of potassium (K) were converted into plant nutrients, this would be equal to about 200,000 tons of fertilizer, which, in Thailand, is worth approximately $4,000 million USD. The farmers are burning (their own) money.

The shredder cuts the residue into very fine pieces. Then microbes, available free to registered farmers in Thailand from the Thai Government, are added to the shredded residue to convert it into fertilizer rich in organic nutrients. The organic fertilizer is added to the soil before the next crop seeds are planted. The process of converting the shredded residue to organic fertilizer takes on average 4 - 8 weeks and then it is ready to use.

 

Each shredder costs around 100,000 Thai Baht to build and consists of three parts:- the frame, the cutters (54 alloy steel blades), and a 9 horse power diesel engine. The shredders must be robust for continual and heavy farm usage and portable so that they fit on the back of a standard pickup truck and be shared. Our design keeps costs and maintenance to a minimum and makes spare parts easy to provide and install. 

 

Two shredders are now at work on the farms. The first is being shared by a group of 20 organic farmers led by Mr Nuntawat, the other by the Tha Kua farming village with 25 farms headed by Mrs Meermana - each group has about 200 rai of land.

 

At first we will provide the shredders free of charge because 'free' is the best way to prove our solution and to break the habit of generations. But at some point we must move to a sustainable model so that we create continual revenue to build more and more. 

 

The 45 farmers are now shredding instead of burning. The rest of the farming community wish to enjoy the benefits of shredding too.

 

Scaling up is the challenge. Can you help?

Protect Our Children Against Haze

Simply banning the burning of agricultural waste (as has been done) does not work because it doesn’t provide a viable alternative for disposing of the biomass.

The Solution

Composting these residues into soil and plant nutrient would mitigate the haze crisis considerably, but the procedure has to fit the farmers’ needs. Though many farmers know quite well how to make good compost, one major obstacle is raw material management.  In order to obtain good compost, biomass needs to be shred into fine pieces to make it easier for microbes to digest and release nutrients (otherwise, it simply takes too long to be practical). To deal with the volume of biomass farmers generate each growing season is not an easy task.

 

Our project seeks to produce affordable, robust and portable shredders to support the farmers who lack the resources to implement alternative solutions. The shredders will help recycle the crop residue instead of burning it. 

But it is a double loss because the burning of rice straw, maize, corn etc residue adversely affects the nutrient balance of the soil. With each successive burning, soil become less fertile and less water retentive, increasing both soil erosion and the need for fertilizer. It’s a vicious circle. 

 

We are not blaming the farmers. Very many of them are at or below the poverty line. They rush to prepare the ground for the next season’s crop because the faster they can grow it, the faster they can earn money

It is estimated that 64% of Thailand's population are small farmers. Every

year they burn millions of tons of agricultural waste in open fields. This releases up to 210,000 tons of particulates into the open air and 24.7 million tons of greenhouse gases including CO2, methane and sulphur dioxide (the precursor to acid rain).

 JOIN THE CAMPAIGN
ASEAN TODAY supports the Shredder Initiative

Thank you for your innovative solution to support Thai farmers

with a viable alternative to burning through creating organic compost.  

The Rotary Shredder
Helping Farmers To Stop The Burning
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