Cost-effective technology vital to curb stubble burning: Mishra

The quest for implementable solutions to stubble burning and attendant atmospheric pollution will require key stakeholders like farmers, industry and government working in tandem, C K Mishra, Secretary at the Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change (MoEF & CC) said on Tuesday.

He underlined the need to make farmers the centrepiece of solutions to the problem of farm stubble burning by giving them a choice of technology and resource base that is acceptable and cost-effective.

Speaking at the conference on 'Curbing Stubble Burning: Making Solutions Work' organised by industry body FICCI, Mishra said the government will need to set up demonstration projects to convince the farmers of the need to do away with stubble burning.

At the same time, the industry will need to step up production of machines and implements acceptable to the farmers and the technological solutions will have to be home-grown through vigorous research and innovation.

Mishra emphasised the need to understand the problem from a farmer's perspective. The pollution-impact of stubble burning is far less impressionable to a farmer than the price he gets for his produce. The need is to zero in on a few solutions that can be implemented on the ground.

Kolluru Krishan, Chairperson of FICCI Climate Change Committee, said farm waste management requires partnership between corporates and MSMEs as large corporates cannot effectively manage farm waste generated by 135 million farm households.

He also highlighted the supply side constraint of equipment and machinery and how manufacturing within India could also be enhanced once the solutions become viable.

.