Recent bout of smog in China likely caused by straw burning
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E-mail Shanghai Daily, October 19, 2015
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Buildings are enveloped by fog in Rizhao, a coastal city in east China's Shandong Province, Oct. 18, 2015. [Photo/Xinhua] |
The recent bout of smog and haze, which shrouded north, east and central China, is very likely to generate from straw burning, according to the Ministry of Environmental Protection.
A total of 862 straw burning sites in 20 provinces and regions were discovered by the satellite from October 5 to 17, up 6.68 percent compared with the same period last year, it said.
Of them, Shandong Province has the most sites of 179 while Liaoning Province has burnt the most straws, followed by Shanxi, Shandong, Henan and Jilin provinces, data showed.
Ten provinces, regions and cities were not discovered with straw burning by the satellite. They include Beijing, Shanghai, Fujian, Guangdong and Tibet.
In north China, farmers are used to burning straws after autumn harvest, and plough to dig the ashes into earth, which they believe fertilizes farmland. In the latter half of October, it’s harder to control pollution there, the ministry said.
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