As autumn sets in, farmers in Punjab have begun harvesting the kharif paddy crop and preparing the fields for the winter crop.
And as has been the practice, despite official injunctions, paddy stubble is being set on fire, raising fears of a spike in air pollution across the northern States, including the national capital New Delhi. Aggravating the problem is the retreat of the southwest monsoon, setting off north-westerly winds which blow into the plains, carrying the smoke from the stubble.
Paddy is grown on 30 lakh hectares in Punjab. After harvesting, about 20 million tonnes of paddy straw is left in the fields. It is estimated that 15 million tonnes of paddy straw are burnt every year. On a sunny afternoon, a group of six farmers in their sixties in Rolu Majra village in Rupnagar district are weighing the options for disposing the paddy stubble. Burning the crop residue is the “unanimous” decision, unless there is financial compensation from the government.
Stubble burning, close to the autumn season every year has been a key contributing factor to air pollution and to respiratory problems among people across northern region including New Delhi.
Prohibitive costs
In an effort to solve the problem of stubble without burning, the State government has provided agro-machines and other equipment, including mulchers and choppers, at subsidised rates to farmers and cooperative societies with a Central outlay of around around ₹650 crore for 2018-2020.
However, farmers and agri-experts feel the number of machines is inadequate. Besides the high cost of using them, given the rising costs of diesel, will not serve the purpose of putting an end to stubble burning, at least during the ongoing harvesting season.
“ Our village society (Rolu Majra Co-operative Society) has so far received one Happy Seeder machine. There are five villages — Samrauli, Santpur, Bhoor Majra, Samana Kalan and Rolu Majra — which this society caters to. In these villages an area of around 5,000 acres is farmland. Now, tell me how will one Happy Seeder machine help farmers of all these villages? It will take months to sow the wheat if everyone in these villages wants to use this machine,” says Amarjit Singh, who has sown paddy over five acres.
The tractor mounted Happy Seeder machine can cut and lift the previous crop (in this case the rice straw) and sow a new (wheat) crop in its place. It also deposits the straw over the sown area as mulch. The mulch helps to reduce need for irrigation, weeds emergence. Crop planted with happy seeder is less prone to lodging.
The machine can be operated with a 45 hp tractor and covers about one acre in about an hour and a quarter.
But Surjit Singh, 62, who has planted paddy in around eight acres, says, points out that for effective use of the Happy Seeder one needs a tractor between 45-55 hp. “I have a tractor of only 35 hp and hence I can't put the Happy Seeder to use in my field. Not only this, the price of diesel has risen sharply in recent months. After harvesting paddy, just to clean the stubble from my field by using machinery attached to the tractor or engaging labour will cost me around ₹5,000-₹6000/acre. Who will bear this cost? If government assures of paying the amount, I’ll not burn paddy straw; otherwise I have no other option. I’ll burn the stubble and I am ready to face the legal consequences of defiance,” he says.
Admitting farmers' concern, Lakhbir Singh, a member of the Rolu Majra Co-operative Society, says, “One Happy Seeder machine is inadequate. Many more such machines are required to effectively check stubble burning.”
There are around 3,500 co-operative societies in the State.
“Also, this year the State government has made the use of super straw management system (SMS) compulsory with combine harvester to facilitate in-situ management of crop residue. But this has again added to our cost, which has gone up from around ₹1,200/acre last year to ₹2,000/acre this season,” says Gurmekh Singh, 60, who has sown paddy in his three acre plot. A Super SMS attached to the rear of a combine harvester chops and uniformly spreads loose straw coming out of the combine on the field.
Several farmer unions have declared they will continue to burn paddy stubble unless the government suitably compensates them for the expenses incurred on alternative methods other than burning for disposing the crop residue.
“The government should first come out with an alternative and then ask farmers to refrain from burning the crop residue. We should be given a bonus of ₹300 per quintal on paddy or paid at least ₹6,000 per acre to compensate us for expenses incurred on the labour, machines and time. Unless we are compensated we will continue to burn stubble,” says Pargat Singh, chief patron (Rupnagar) of Bhartiya Kisan Union (Sidhupur).
“Farmers choose to burn the paddy residue not out of choice but compulsion. The time lag between harvesting of paddy and for sowing the next crop is very little. We have to harvest and prepare the field for next sowing in a brief window of 20-25 days. Using machinery is not just time-consuming, it’s expensive as well. Burning is the least time-consuming and cheapest option,” adds Mr. Singh.
As paddy harvesting has begun in many parts of Punjab, close to 400 cases of stubble fire incidents have been reported till October 9 this season, which started in late September. In 2016 the State witnessed 80,879 incidents of stubble fire while in 2017, a dip was seen with 43,814 cases, according to government data.
Optimistic about seeing a drop in stubble burning cases during current season, Jasbir Singh Bains, director of the Punjab Agriculture Department, says around 14,000 subsidised farm machines for management of paddy residue have been delivered so far to the stakeholders. “In all, 24,315 machines will be supplied to farmers, cooperative societies and custom hiring centres this season,” he adds.
“ We are aiming to achieve zero paddy straw burning. I am hopeful we can achieve around 65-70% reduction in cases of stubble burning this year in comparison to 2017. If the supplied machinery is used to optimum capacity the stubble-burning incidents are bound to come down. All of this equipment is expected to distributed by October 15,” he said. About 8,000 village-level nodal officers have been deputed to create awareness against stubble burning among farmers.
P.S. Rangi, an agriculture expert and former Punjab State Farmers Commission adviser is not so optiminstic. He says, “The magnitude of the stubble burning problem is huge in Punjab and it's not going to get solved in a year or two. The State has over 10 lakh farming families that have land holdings of two to five acres and cannot afford to go in for mechanised farming. There are reports that subsidised agro-machines being given by the government have not reached many villages and where they have, the number is too few. The machines and equipment need to supplied quickly and in good numbers.”
