A blazing problem

Rooting out farm stubble fires needs practical solutions

The burning of crop residue is known to be one of the major contributors to air pollution in north India, including the National Capital Region of Delhi, around this time of the year. A lasting solution for this menace is necessary to save the region from turning into a virtual gas chamber year after year. But hardly any earnest effort is being made towards this end. For farmers, torching of crop leftovers has become an economic necessity because of the growing scarcity of farm labour and rising wage rates. Besides, unlike wheat straw, which is used as cattle feed, paddy straw is a waste because of its high silica content, which animals cannot digest. Most of the technological or biological alternatives to stubble burning being talked about are either too costly for farmers or are too time-consuming for the narrow window of 15 to 20 days between paddy harvesting and wheat sowing. The notion that this practice can be curbed through strict enforcement of a legal ban is ill-founded. The penalty for violation is usually lower than the cost of disposing of crop dregs through other means.

Farmers can, therefore, stop flaming paddy stubble only if they are offered a practically feasible and economically viable alternative. One possible way could be to nudge bio-power producers and waste utilising industries to buy crop by-products for use as their supplementary feedstock. This is said to have been suggested by the Environment Pollution Control Authority (EPCA) to the National Thermal Power Corporation and some private bio-energy producers and has elicited some encouraging response. Some companies are said to be willing even to bear the cost of gathering and transporting the stalks, besides making some token payment for the stuff. Fiscal incentives to such enterprises for doing so would, perhaps, lead to better results. Another rewards-based concept for discouraging crop blazing has been suggested to the Centre by the Punjab government. It involves paying Rs 100 a quintal on the minimum support price of paddy to those farmers who do not set their fields ablaze. However, the Centre’s response is still awaited.

Another available viable option is the use of mechanical devices, which can manage the stubble and, in some cases, even use it gainfully for raising crop production. These versatile, mostly locally designed and manufactured, contraptions include happy seeder, rotavator, zero tiller, hydraulic plough and some kinds of stalk balers, straw choppers and mulching machines. Some of these sow wheat while taking care of the residue in a single operation. Some others cut the stalks and spread them in the field to serve as useful mulch to prevent loss of soil moisture due to evaporation. A few of them can cut and tie up stalks into bales for transportation to user industries. But there is a catch. These are costly equipment, and bringing them within the farmer’s reach might require subsidies. Or else, entrepreneurs-cum-service providers can be incentivised to own these machines and give them to farmers on rent or to have their fields tilled for a charge. The Centre has allowed part of the funds available under the sub-mission on agricultural mechanisation to be used for popularising these machines. The state governments, too, need to contribute to this effort. No cost is big enough to guard people against suffocating pollution.