According to experts, farmers are more likely to burn stubble to make up for lost time and quickly prepare their fields for the following crop because a lengthy period of rain has delayed paddy harvesting in some districts of Punjab.Between October 4 and October 8, another weather system is expected to deliver rain to parts of north India, which might further postpone harvesting in some regions, according to forecasters.
“In several places, including Punjab’s Tarn Taran and Amritsar regions, where farmers cultivate peas and potatoes before wheat, the rain (last week) caused paddy harvesting to be delayed. It’s not the best scenario, “said Dr. Mahesh Narang, the chairman of the Punjab Agricultural University’s farm engineering department.
“The timeframe for preparing farms for the following crop has been significantly reduced by the paddy harvesting delay. Therefore, there is a strong likelihood that these farmers will burn the paddy straw rather than handling it with machines “He clarified.
“Stubble-burning starts about September 20, although there aren’t many fires until October 15.” In Punjab and Haryana, farm fires were put out by the rain last week, while Delhi-air NCR’s pollution was kept under control, according to Vinay Sehgal, chief scientist at the Indian Agricultural Research Institute.
Data from the “Consortium for Research on Agroecosystem Monitoring and Modelling from Space” show that Punjab has not had a single instance of stubble burning in the last six days.On September 23, three residue-burning activities took place; on September 22, 30, on September 21, and on September 20, there were 56 activities.
