People are upset because pig farms cause pollution.

(Baonghean) -For over 3 months now, residents of Hamlet 15, Dien Yen Commune have had to live with the stench of pollution from a pig farm at the foot of Hon Tro Mountain. Residents have repeatedly come to the farm to request the owner to take remedial measures, but to no avail.

Sitting absentmindedly in a closed house at the beginning of Hamlet 15, Dien Yen Commune, Mr. Nguyen Van Van and many other residents expressed their indignation when talking about the pig farm at the beginning of the hamlet. Hamlet 15 is located next to National Highway 48, surrounded by Hon Tro mountain range behind. Since 2012, Mr. Le Duc Hung, a resident of the commune, came here to ask to build an industrial-scale pig farm in the valley at the foot of the mountain. After completing the barn system, in early 2013, the owner of this facility brought pigs to raise. From here, the air pollution in Hamlet 15 began to occur. "Every night at around 7 pm, the stench is so strong that it lasts until the next morning.

Many days we have to close the doors but the stench still comes into the house, the children cannot study, the electric fan is turned on at full capacity but cannot stop the stench", said Nguyen Van Van indignantly. Also because of the stench, some households living near the pig farm have had to "evacuate" to other places. For more than two months now, Ms. Nguyen Thi Tham and her two young children living near the pig farm have had to carry each other to her maternal grandparents' house to take refuge. Village chief Le Quang Hao said that for many nights, people have come to "surround" the farm but have not been able to solve the problem.

Directly visiting the pig farm system, we saw that, in addition to 3 solidly built barns, the wastewater treatment system of this farm is quite makeshift. Below the biogas system covered with tarpaulin are 3 adjacent ponds, the water is pitch black. All 3 ponds do not have solid concrete embankments separating them, and there are no surrounding water channels. The pig farm is located in a mountain valley, below are houses and rice fields, if it rains heavily, the pond overflows, the pig waste will spill into the rice fields of the people, ...

The waste pond system has no concrete embankment, so it can easily overflow if it rains heavily.

Mr. Le Duc Hung, the pig farm owner, said that the farm was built on a modern scale with 3 closed barns and a biogas tank system using tarpaulins using Thai technology. According to him, each barn can raise 300 - 500 pigs, the total investment for this farm is 3 billion VND, of which the construction of the wastewater treatment system costs more than 300 million VND. Currently, the farm raises nearly 1,000 pigs and is in the process of selling them. Mr. Hung admitted that the farm has a foul smell as reported by the people of Hamlet 15. The cause of the pollution is not because the pig farm discharges waste directly into the environment, nor because the herd of pigs is too large compared to the design of the farm, but because in the first 2 months, when the pig farm was first put into operation, the biogas tarpaulin system was open and torn, causing a foul smell. After the above situation was fixed, the combustion system of the biogas tank had an accident, causing gas to escape, causing pollution. In addition, some days the workers do not clean the barn, causing the stench from the barn to rise and spread into the air. If the weather turns windy, it will spread to the village, causing an unpleasant smell...

According to Mr. Duong Dang Hoi, Chairman of Dien Yen Commune People's Committee, Mr. Hung's pig farm is solidly built on an area of ​​2.8 hectares, capable of raising 1,200 pigs. As soon as receiving the investment proposal for this project, the locality was very concerned and considered because the lesson at the pig farm in Dai Son Commune (Do Luong) was still hot, so they forced the investor to commit to having an environmental protection plan, not affecting people's lives. However, since the pig farm started operating, people have complained a lot about pollution. The commune government has repeatedly set up a team to inspect the pollution situation, reported the situation to the competent authorities of the district and requested the farm owner to promptly take measures to completely handle the environmental pollution. "In the coming time, if the pollution situation is not resolved, we will request the pig farm owner to stop raising pigs to solve the pollution problem, stabilize the lives of the people", the Chairman of the Commune People's Committee affirmed.

People in hamlet 15, Dien Yen commune are upset because the pig farm causes pollution.

The fact that people invest in industrial-scale farms and get rich legitimately on their homeland is something that should be encouraged and replicated. However, in the process of developing farm economy, investing in production and raising livestock, it is necessary to protect the environment and avoid affecting and disrupting people's lives. For a long time, we have talked a lot about environmental pollution in industrial production, but have not paid close attention to the issue of ensuring environmental hygiene in the agricultural sector.

Since 2007, the Provincial People's Committee has issued Decision No. 74/2007/QD on "Regulations on environmental protection in Nghe An province", emphasizing that socio-economic development must be closely linked with environmental protection to ensure sustainable development. The regulation also clearly states the responsibility for environmental protection in agricultural production and especially in concentrated livestock areas. In the coming time, the authorities in Dien Chau district need to take measures to work with pig farm owners to thoroughly handle environmental pollution, strengthen supervision of the production and breeding processes and waste treatment systems of pig farms to avoid pollution and impacts on people's lives as is happening now.

Article and photos: Nguyen Khoa