Stubble Burning 🔥

The dramatic increase in levels of air pollution in North India has been heavily attributed to the practice of stubble burning in the agricultural states. In simple terms, Stubble Burning is the act of burning residue left on the fields after harvesting to clear the agricultural land and to make it ready for the next season. Stubble burning appears to be the easiest and cheapest method of getting rid of the residue. But its long-lasting effects on the environment have long been ignored until recently, the air pollution levels skyrocketed to record high. 

The release of greenhouse gases, pollution from smoke, and the risk of fires spreading are just some of the many adverse effects of this practice. Additionally, farmers carry out stubble burning twice a year. In summers, the warm breeze disperses the effects pretty quickly. On the contrary, during winters, low temperatures coupled with low speeds make matters worse. Moreover, since these farmers form part of a crucial vote bank, governments have hesitated to impose a complete ban on this practice. 

“ These farmers regularly complain about the menace of rice straw – a product of mechanized agriculture – exacerbated by a shortage of labor and lack of time. When paddy is harvested by a combined harvester and thresher, the machine leaves behind a significant length of straw and stubble on the field. This prevents other machines from sowing wheat seeds. With only 10-15 days between the rice-harvesting season and the wheat-sowing time, farmers often burn the stubble to quickly eliminate the paddy stubble. According to some estimates, farmers burned about 11 million tonnes of stubble in Punjab and Haryana, out of the 27 million tonnes of paddy stubble produced last year. The numbers are likely to be similar this year. “    

- Science. The Wire

The use of Turbo Happy Seeder (THS) machines was widely advocated by the local governments, but to no avail, since they were expensive. But, what other solutions can be proposed to put an end to this menace? Upon much research, I finally concluded that the following solutions offer innovative and cost-effective approaches. 

1. One is the Pusa biodecomposer which has been developed by scientists at the Indian Agricultural Research Institute. It helps in converting this residue into manure within days and is a type of accelerated decomposition process. 

2. Stubble can also be converted into biochar, and later used as a fertilizer. 

3. Another way can be to harvest short-duration crops instead of the paddies so that there is enough time for the stubble to decompose, thus eliminating the need for stubble burning. 

I sincerely hope that the farmer communities realize the importance of environmental conservation and the reality of the adverse effects caused as a direct result of this practice !

Thank You. 

Soham Patil, India 🇮🇳