Stubble burning to come down further this year: Tomar

Crop stubble burning is likely to come down further this year, as the Centre is subsidising machinery required for the crop residue management in Punjab, Haryana, Uttar Pradesh and the national capital region, Agriculture Minister Narendra Singh Tomar said on Friday.

A central scheme was launched for two years till 2019-20 for these four states/regions to facilitate buying or hiring of crop residue management machineries at a subsidised rates and for creating awareness among farmers.

"The scheme is running successfully and helped reduce the stubble burning last year. The burning will further come down this year," Tomar said on the sidelines of an event here.

The scheme is being implemented by farm research body ICAR through 60 Krishi Vigyan Kendras (KVKs) of Punjab (22), Haryana (14), Delhi (1) and UP (23).

For the current year, the Centre has released Rs 273.80 crore to Punjab, while Rs 192.06 crore and Rs 105.29 crore to Haryana and Uttar Pradesh, respectively, under the scheme.

In 2018-19, the Centre had released Rs 269.38 crore, Rs 137.84 crore and Rs 148.60 crore, respectively, to Punjab, Haryana and Uttar Pradesh, respectively.

According to the official data, more than 4,500 villages in Punjab and Haryana were declared as zero stubble burning villages during 2018 as not a single crop burning incident was reported.

Besides this scheme, separate funds are being allocated to the states for crop residue management under the Sub-Mission on Agriculture Mechanisation by the Union agriculture ministry.

The state governments have also been directed to use Rs 4,000 per hectare from the funds available for demonstration of machines under the Sub-Mission on Agricultural Mechanisation for demonstration of straw management machinery at farmers' fields.