Few farmers in Punjab have begun disposing of crop residue, which is typically burned and contributes to air pollution, in an environmentally friendly way, either by using it as natural fertiliser or selling it for the generation of fuel.By incorporating crop residue into the soil, these farmers have not only decreased their use of fertilisers but have also started to turn a profit by managing the stubble left over from other crops.
Bhupinder Singh (59), a farmer in the Mohali district who tends to 30 acres of land in Badarpur Village, hasn’t burned rice stubble since 2018. Instead, he uses an MB plough, a tillage tool, to combine it with soil.”Thereafter, the ground is prepared to plant the following crop, wheat.
He claims that a week passes after it is buried before the stubble residue decomposes.”Fertilizer consumption has decreased due to the soil’s ability to absorb stubble. We used to utilise potash for the wheat crop in the past, but we no longer do,” he claims.Farmers prefer not to burn stubble. A grower may resort to lighting agricultural leftovers on fire if the timing of his next harvest is delayed. Other than that, he shares everyone else’s concern for the environment.
He claims that a week passes after it is buried before the stubble residue decomposes.”Fertilizer consumption has decreased due to the soil’s ability to absorb stubble. We used to utilise potash for the wheat crop in the past, but we no longer do,” he claims.Farmers prefer not to burn stubble. A grower may resort to lighting agricultural leftovers on fire if the timing of his next harvest is delayed. Other than that, he shares everyone else’s concern for the environment.
We may rent out equipment like the MB plough, the mulcher, the happy seeder, and the zero till drill to other farms in adjacent areas. For the usage of these machines, we do not impose any fees on small farmers, he adds.In Shaheed Bhagat Singh Nagar district, Amarjit Singh (48), of the village Burj Tehal Dass, has abstained from burning paddy for the past 15 years, and he encourages others to do the same.
Amarjit Singh, who cultivates crops on more than 100 acres of land, instead sells it to a local plant that converts it into fuel due to its negative impact on the environment. He provides equipment like happy seeders, super seeders, ploughs, mulchers, etc. together with some other farmers to stop them from destroying the environment.With the aid of balers, a device that compresses crop residue into bales, Avtar Singh of village Theri in Mohali is managing paddy with the assistance of three other farmers.
With the help of this machine, around 500 farmers are managing 2,000 tonnes of agricultural residue.
Farmers in the four districts of Fatehgarh Sahib, Mohali, Rupnagar, and Moga have agreed to let Avtar Singh to harvest stubble from their crops.Avtar Singh claims that after being utilised as fuel, the crop residue is sold to a thread manufacturer in Dera Bassi and an electricity generation business in Ferozepur.
Avtar Singh formerly farmed 75 acres of land. But afterwards, in order to concentrate on managing the crop residue left by other farmers, he reduced the area under cultivation to 25 acres.Avtar Singh owns two balers in addition to purchasing a rack and tractor trolleys.”At this time, our goal is to sell agricultural residue directly to businesses that do not use agents. We’ll make more money from it, claims Avtar Singh.
One of the causes of the worrisome increase in air pollution levels in the nation’s capital and surrounding areas in October and November is the burning of paddy straw in Punjab and Haryana.
Farmers light their fields on fire to swiftly burn off the crop residue because the window for the Rabi crop wheat is quite little after the paddy harvest.Paddy straw is produced in Punjab annually in amounts of about 180 lakh tonnes.
Punjab continues to have farm fires despite taking many steps over the past few years to prevent stubble burning.
According to the state, there were 71,304 such fire occurrences in 2021, 76,590 in 2020, 55,210 in 2019, and 50,590 in 2018, with numerous districts, including Sangrur, Mansa, Bathinda, and Amritsar, reporting a high number of stubble-burning accidents.
