In May each year, farmers in Chengdu, capital city of southwest China's Sichuan Province, were used to burn stalks in their fields after the harvest, polluting the air with billowing smoke and affecting the take-offs and landings of aeroplanes in nearby airports

However, the situation is different this year.

This May, the city witnessed its best air quality in recent years after farmers stopped burning stalks.

Flights are no longer affected by the smoke from the burning stalks in the city's Shuangliu International Airport, according to Kang Ming, manager of the airport's aviation safety department.

Farmers usually use the burned stalks as fertilizer and most did not know what else to do with them.

The Chengdu government has taken measures to process these stalks in a more environmentally friendly way, which is the main reason for the improvement of the air quality and flight safety, said Li Chaolin, deputy chief of the Chengdu Municipal Agricultural Committee.

First, a special technology was introduced to help decompose the stalks and turn them into clean fertilizer without damaging air quality.

The technology is also welcomed in Dujiangyan, a city under Chengdu's administration.

The Dujiangyan city government spent 2.2 million yuan (US$274,657) introducing the technology to local farmers free of charge. The city now has reduced, possibly even eliminated, stalk burning on farmlands.

Second, local authorities encourage farmers to feed domestic animals with the stalks, which are said to be healthy.

(China Daily May 30, 2006)