Despite a ban and dire warnings from the Environment Pollution Control Authority, the burning of wheat stubbles to clear the fields for paddy sowing is a rampant practice in Punjab and Haryana, leading to severe air pollution across the region and in Delhi, too.
These days farmers do it in a secret way as there is stringent monitoring and satellite surveillance carried out by the Punjab and Haryana government. Also, after crop fires they term it as an accident.
The impact on environment and the heat stress on the farm land due to the burning (which destroys the soil nutrients to a large extent), farmers have no choice but to resort to this burning tradition as the alternatives to crop burning are not easily available. It is also because the subsidies required for agriculture equipment such as happy seeder or rotavor haven't reached them and most farmers of wheat who use a 'reaper' leaves a short stubble on the ground, which is either burnt or ploughed back into the soil.
Ploughing it back into the soil is time consuming and labour intensive. It often damages paddy seedlings, therefore burning is the option most farmers resort to. Even though wheat crops can be cut to leave a very low stubble, alternatives to burning of rice stalks are expensive. The stubble cannot be used as fodder either as there is frequent fuel spill during cropping, making it unviable for cattle to eat.
Dr Ramanjaneyulu, Executive Director of Centre for Sustainable Agriculture, is of the view that there are three primary reasons for crop burning in Punjab and Haryana. First, the gap between "rice harvest and wheat sowing" is becoming very short, so in order to quickly prepare for the wheat, burning is the only viable option.
Secondly, the collection of the stubble is becoming increasingly expensive, costing around Rs 4,000-5,000, and around 20-30 per cent of straw falls on the ground while collecting, which is expensive and labor intensive to carry.
Thirdly, prices are falling for farmers, hence it is not economically viable for farmers to cut down on labour costs, because of which burning is easier.
He went on add that there is no incentive for farmers to actually harvest the stubble and thus it is easier to burn off the stubble of crops.
"For every 4 tons of grain produced, there is 6 tons of straw produced and around 4 tons of it is burnt, which is a hazard," said Ramanjaneyulu.
There is a lot that the government can do to reduce pollution by crop burning and at the same time save money on subsidies for fertilisers.
"Government can invest a lot in reusing the straw as compost, which can cut down on the fertilizer requirement and subsidies, at the same time cut down on pollution," he explained.
The slash-and-burn method of agriculture is also rampant in parts of Madhya Pradesh and east India, as shown by satellite images of NASA which depict large fires. Not only do these fires cause green-house emissions and respiratory issues, but they also damage the soil, causing up to Rs 2,000 crore of loss of valuable nutrients from the soil per year. It is up to the government to ensure that this burning of crops is hampered and viable alternatives are provided to the farmers.
BW Reporters
The author is correspondent at BW Businessworld, he has a keen interest in sustainability and environmental economics
