Stubble burning in the north-western states of India, particularly Punjab and Haryana, is considered a major cause of air pollution in the national Capital Region (NCR) from late September through October of each year. It is in this period that farmers mainly from this region burn an estimated 35 million tons of paddy (rice) waste from their fields after harvesting.
What is stubble burning
Stubble burning, in its simplest sense, is the removal of crop residue by burning it after that crop has been harvested. Burning is the quickest and cheapest way of clearing the field for the sowing of the next crop. Most farmers find the traditional practice of physically removing crop stubble, by hand, both time-consuming and labour-intensive.
Why farmers resort to stubble burning
There are two growing seasons in the north-eastern belt comprising the states of Punjab, Haryana, western Uttar Pradesh and Uttarakhand: one from May to September (kharif crop) and the other from November to April (rabi crop). Farmers grow paddy (rice) in the May-September season and wheat in the November-April season. Wheat is the major crop here and India relies almost completely on these states for its huge wheat need. Framers grow paddy in the kharif season because it is a lucrative crop. This cultivation and harvesting of paddy is at the root of the issue of stubble burning.
Paddy is a water-intensive crop and water is scarce in the summer months in north India. In order to prevent the diversion of scarce water resources in the summer, several state governments in the north restrict the cultivation of paddy in the summer months. For instance, in Punjab farmers can sow paddy only after May 15 and transplant it only after June 15, when the monsoons typically arrive over North India. The wheat crop must be sowed latest by 15 November so that it can mature by mid-April when the temperature starts to cross 35 degree Celsius. This means that fields must be cleared of all paddy residue by October. Farmers have very little time between the harvesting of paddy and the sowing of wheat.
Another reason is the use of the ‘combine harvesting’ method which is a highly mechanised form of agriculture. Combines are machines that harvest, thresh and clean the separated grain, all together. The problem is that these machines leave 6-10 cm of paddy stalk on the field. The farmer has no use for this stalk.
The removal of the paddy stalk that remains on the field is a labour-intensive process. Till a few years ago, migrant workers from the states of Uttar Pradesh and Bihar worked as seasonal farm labour in the fields of Punjab and Haryana. With increase in mechanisation of agriculture, the demand for these workers reduced drastically and migrant workers looked for other income opportunities. Aa a result, agricultural labour became a scarce commodity in parts of Punjab and Haryana.
With very little time in hand to prepare the field for the next crop, the farmers choose the cheapest and quickest solution—burning the stubble.
According to an estimate, Punjab produces 19-20 million tonnes of paddy straw and about 20 million tonnes of wheat straw approximately. About 85-90 per cent of this paddy straw is burnt in the field, and increasingly, wheat straw is also being burnt during the Rabi harvesting season. Haryana’s paddy straw production is estimated at 2 million tonnes.
What stubble burning leads to
Stubble burning is a serious threat to the environment. It releases a large amount of toxic pollutants in the atmosphere. Each year, stubble burning in the Punjab-Haryana belt is the start of the annual escalation of pollutant concentrations in the air, leading to massive winter pollution in the region. The Particulate Matter (PM) concentration in the air goes up significantly in the vicinity as clouds of ash and smoke travel hundreds of kilometres. The massive use of firecrackers during Diwali at the end of October further aggravates the problem. With the onset of winter, weather patterns change—the drop in temperatures reduces the dispersion of pollutants. There is burning of biomass (leaves and other organic waste) and garbage through thousands of small fires lit for warmth. Smog formed of the smoke stays in the air for weeks together.
The drop in air quality has an obvious and alarming impact on human health, causing threatening breathing problems, allergies and asthma attacks.
In addition, stubble burning is harmful for soil health. It causes loss of vital components such as nitrogen, phosphorus, sulphur and potassium from the topsoil layer, making the land less fertile and unviable for agriculture in the long run.
Tackling the issue and problems
There have been efforts to reduce crop residue burning. Some of these are as follows:
- Banning crop residue burning:Crop residue burning was notified as an offence under the Air Act of 1981, the Code of Criminal Procedure, 1973 and various appropriate Acts. In addition, a penalty is imposed on offending farmers. Village and block-level administrative officials are supposed to ensure enforcement. However, the penalty system is not very effective. Collection of penalty is a task in itself. Also, farmers find it cheaper to pay the fine than employ labour to remove the stubble.
- Detecting and preventing:Instances of stubble burning are detected by using the satellite remote sensing technology and a team comprising local officials such as sub-divisional magistrates, tehsildars, block development officers, patwaris and village-level workers. Action is taken against the offenders.
- Mechanised removal of stubble: One alternative to stubble burning is the use of the Turbo Happy Seeder. This is a machine mounted on a tractor that cuts and uproots the stubble, drills wheat seeds in the soil and throws husks on the soil to form a mulch cover. The cost of the machine, though, is high. However, despite the state governments, in collaboration with the Centre, having rolled out schemes for providing subsidy on such machines, the cost still remains high and only a small number of farmers have access to these implements at the moment.
- Finding uses for stubble: There are efforts to find use for paddy straw and other crop residue. Paddy straw has a considerable calorific value; it can be used as a fuel in biomass-based power plants. Similarly, it can be utilized for the preparation of bio-fuels, organic fertilisers and in paper and cardboard making industries. Stubble can also be decomposed in the farm field and turned into useful manure; used for making fodder for livestock out of collected stubble; used by the cement industry; developed by packaging industries as an alternative non-disposable materials like plastic.
However, farmers need to be given incentives to cut, collect and transport the crop residue. A real economic and commercial value needs to be attached to the agricultural residue. When burning becomes an economic loss to the farmers, they will automatically switch to using the stubble.
- Alternatives to paddy: Rice is a lucrative crop, so farmers grow it even though sourcing water for it is a perennial problem. Crop diversification is a solution in which at least some farmers grow alternative crops (other than paddy) that leave less crop residue and have greater gap periods between cropping cycles. The government is already making efforts towards implementing this cropping technique though farmers will have to be given incentives to switch from the lucrative paddy to other crops.
- Public awareness campaigns:Several campaigns have been launched to generate awareness about the impact of crop residue burning on health and environment and about the alternative use of crop residue. Camps, trainings and workshops are oraganized for the purpose, in addition to campaigns through print and audio-visual media.
The issue of stubble burning is a complex one. Only farmers cannot be blamed for it. It will require the combined efforts of the policy makers, framers, other experts in the field of agriculture and environmentalists to find viable solutions and put them into action.
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