PUSA decomposers: Cautiously optimistic, farmers await proof of results

They say they are willing to shell out more if the results are good. If not, many would again go back to stubble burning

Bhupinder Singh, a middle-aged farmer from Karnal district of Haryana, is cautiously optimistic about the new PUSA decomposer that he has applied in his field on an experimental basis, with assistance from a plant protection company.

Singh says that solution seems good but whether it is actually helpful or not in completely decaying the paddy stubble and, more importantly, not impacting the yield of the next crop, remains to be seen.

“Sab kuch result pe depend karega (everything depends on the results),” Singh says while acknowledging that the initial outcome has been good.

He spread the PUSA decomposer on a portion of his 30-acre farm land where paddy was largely grown in the recently concluded kharif season.

Almost eight days have passed since. And, after following the entire process of watering and turning the soil, the next mustard crop has started germinating, while the stubble is decaying.

PUSA decomposer in water soluble form

“I have stopped burning paddy for the last few years and a big reason for the same is that my field is near the highway and even if a minor fire is lit, the administration comes sweeping down on us,” Singh confesses. "In the next 20 days, we will know whether the solution works or not."

His fellow farmer Sukhvinder Singh, who is also planning to use the PUSA decomposer provided for free, feels that if results are good, farmers won't mind paying some price to get their fields readied in an eco-friendly way.

“We have, in any case, to spend around Rs 1,000 per acre to prepare the field for the next crop with tractors, which goes up to Rs 3,000 after diesel costs are added. So, if the outcome is good, we might even shell out some more money if it leads complete elimination of burning,” Sukhvinder told a group of reporters who visited his field to explore the experimental formulation that could provide a long-lasting and sustainable solution to the problem of stubble burning.

The PUSA bio-decomposer is a bio-enzyme developed by Indian Agriculture Research Institute. It decomposes the stubble, turning it into manure, thus improving the soil health and reducing farmers' input costs in terms of fertilisers for the next cropping cycle. 300 grams of PUSA spray is enough to decompose 1 acre of stubble.

The farmers are required to maintain 50-60 per cent of moisture in the soil, there should be no seeds sown already in the field (along with stubble) and the straw should be removed from the cultivating area for the spray solution to work.

Nurture.farm, a subsidiary of plant protection company UPL, is one of the several selected by IARI to conduct on-field trials of the new PUSA decomposer. UPL has converted the formulation into powder form which can be easily mixed with water and sprayed on the field provided by the company for free as a pilot.

Around 210,000 hectares of land have been identified by the company to conduct the trials, which is among the largest of the companies which have been chosen to popularise the concept.

“On the fields before the pilot was conducted, studies have shown that yield of subsequent crops have gone up once PUSA decomposers was used on the stubble as it is natural way of decaying the residue without harming the soil,” Pranav Tiwari, CTO of nurture.farm told Business Standard.

Before PUSA decomposer there were other decomposers, but they took almost 60 days to disintegrate the stubble while the new ones take less than 30 days. This will give the farmer enough time to sow the next crop without worrying about his yield getting impacted.

The newly formed Commission for Air Quality Management (CAQM) a few days back had laid down plans to use bio-decomposer solutions in around 1 million acres of land spread over Punjab, Haryana, UP and Delhi.

“The new varieties of decomposers are in powder form and are water soluble, and have a consortium of more than seven different fungi unlike the previous ones which were in capsule forms and had fewer number of fungi which took more time to decompose the stubble,” Dhruv Sawhney, COO and Business Head of nurture. farm had told Business Standard a few days back.

But for farmers like Bhupinder and Sukhvinder Singh, in the final analysis, it is the cost of operation and the benefits that such a process accrues to his next crop that is the ultimate clincher for adoption.

Or else, burning is the easiest and most convenient option--something that the rows of paddy fields set on fire barely 30 kilometers away from Delhi border despite all the government clampdown stand testimony to.

Officially, between September 15 and October 8, 2021, Hisar has not had a single case of stubble burning, compared with three during the same period last year.