Delhi's deadly air pollution fueled by rice fields that India doesn't need

India exports more than 11 million tons of rice annually, and has about 25 million tons of rice and about 4 million tons of unmilled grain in buffer stocks

Each year India’s rice farmers burn the stubble of the harvested crop, contributing to an annual haze that damages the health of those in and around the capital. Yet the country is producing more rice than it needs thanks to government subsidies.

Guaranteed prices have encouraged farmers to grow so much rice -- one of the most water-intensive crops and a major source of greenhouse gases -- that India has become the world’s largest exporter of the grain and government stockpiles are now more than twice the required level.

“Farmers in Punjab and Haryana need to diversify from rice to other crops