Bleak winter looms as farmers find bio-decomposer impractical
After the Centre declined to contribute to the Delhi and Punjab governments' plan to reward farmers with Rs 2,500 per acre for not burning stubble and rice harvest remnants, winter in the capital this year may not be any better than previous ones. The paddy harvesting season is rapidly approaching. The two state governments prefer the latter of the two remaining options: using seeders to plant wheat without removing the stubble — in addition to deploying other machinery — and using bio-decomposers to degrade the remnants. Farmers, on the other hand, find the bio-decomposer impractical to use, Times Of India reported. This could be a problem for the AAP government in Delhi, which has previously chastised the Punjab and Haryana governments for not doing enough to control farm fires, which cause smog to envelop the city during the winter. According to the Centre for Science and Environment, large-scale stubble burning is frequently the cause of the first episode of smog. The Pusa solution takes a month to work Last winter saw two to three times as much rain as usual, but Delhi experienced its longest smog episode in four years, lasting 10 days. It had begun to grow since Diwali (November 4, 2021). Such acute smog episodes lasted six days in the winter of 2018-19, eight days in the winter of 2019-20, and seven days in the winter of 2020-21. With the stubble burned, there were 25 severe or worse polluted days last winter, compared to 20 in 2020-21 and 25 in 2019-20. Home » India » Bleak winter looms as farmers... Bleak winter looms as farmers find bio-decomposer impractical News9 Staff News9 Staff Published On: 18 Sept 2022 10:34 AM Bleak winter looms as farmers find bio-decomposer impractical Image for representational purpose only. (Photo credit: Pixabay) Last winter saw two to three times as much rain as usual, but Delhi experienced its longest smog episode in four years, lasting 10 days. News According to the Centre for Science and Environment, large-scale stubble burning is frequently the cause of the first episode of smog. With the stubble burned, there were 25 severe or worse polluted days last winter, compared to 20 in 2020-21 and 25 in 2019-20. The Delhi government has tried unsuccessfully in recent years to demonstrate the efficacy of the bio-decomposer solution by enlisting the help of Delhi farmers. After the Centre declined to contribute to the Delhi and Punjab governments' plan to reward farmers with Rs 2,500 per acre for not burning stubble and rice harvest remnants, winter in the capital this year may not be any better than previous ones. The paddy harvesting season is rapidly approaching. The two state governments prefer the latter of the two remaining options: using seeders to plant wheat without removing the stubble — in addition to deploying other machinery — and using bio-decomposers to degrade the remnants. Farmers, on the other hand, find the bio-decomposer impractical to use, Times Of India reported. Also Read - Congress' Rahul dilemma continues, loyalists, state units mount pressure on him to take party's charge This could be a problem for the AAP government in Delhi, which has previously chastised the Punjab and Haryana governments for not doing enough to control farm fires, which cause smog to envelop the city during the winter. According to the Centre for Science and Environment, large-scale stubble burning is frequently the cause of the first episode of smog. The Pusa solution takes a month to work Last winter saw two to three times as much rain as usual, but Delhi experienced its longest smog episode in four years, lasting 10 days. It had begun to grow since Diwali (November 4, 2021). Such acute smog episodes lasted six days in the winter of 2018-19, eight days in the winter of 2019-20, and seven days in the winter of 2020-21. With the stubble burned, there were 25 severe or worse polluted days last winter, compared to 20 in 2020-21 and 25 in 2019-20. Also Read - Army issues tenders to buy guns, missiles and drones for emergency procurement The Pusa decomposer, created by the Indian Agricultural Research Institute, is a microbial spray for crop stubble management in-situ. It decomposes and converts the harvest residue into a natural soil nutrient. Farmers complain that the decomposer takes 30 days or more to work when there is only a very short window between rice harvest and wheat crop sowing. Spraying bio-decomposers is an additional "impractical, useless step" for cultivators, requiring time and labour and increasing concerns due to the shortened window between crops. So, while crop residue management machinery such as seeders may be effective, bio-decomposers are not practical for farmers. "It's a big no for most of the farmers because they don't have the time to spare," said Gurmail Singh of Jasso Majra in Patiala district while interacting with Times of India. "We would rather use machines. Those who can't afford the special machines will be forced to resort to stubble burning." The Delhi government has tried unsuccessfully in recent years to demonstrate the efficacy of the bio-decomposer solution by enlisting the help of Delhi farmers. Satyavan Sehrawat, a farmer in Dariyapur Kalan, northwest Delhi, who has started harvesting his 40 acres of paddy, said the long time it took the Pusa decomposer to work last year cost those who tried it money. "The decomposer takes at least 45 days to work. A farmer also has to ensure there is enough moisture in the field and employ a rotavator or plough to mulch the stubble into the soil. Since the decomposer is fungal, it gets activated only if there's moisture in the field. Even two days of direct sunlight can spoil it," he claimed. A few months ago, the AAP government in Punjab collaborated with the party's government in Delhi to offer farmers a cash incentive of Rs 2,500 per acre for not burning rice harvest stalks, with an outlay of Rs 1,875 crore for farmers cultivating 75 lakh acres. The Punjab and Delhi governments were to contribute Rs 500 per acre (Rs 375 crore), with the Centre expected to contribute the remaining Rs 1,500 per acre. That plan has since been abandoned. Perhaps the Centre was concerned that if cash incentives were given to Punjab farmers, similar demands would be made by farmers in Haryana and Uttar Pradesh, where rice harvest remnants are also burned at the start of winter. "The process of decomposing takes up to three weeks, which is the overall window between paddy harvesting and sowing of the new wheat crop," pointed out Ajmer Singh Dhatt, research director, Punjab Agriculture University. Furthermore, the agriculture department claims that it can make bio-decomposers available for trials on only 5,000 acres (2,023 hectares), despite the fact that rice is grown on over 75 lakh acres (30 lakh hectares) in Punjab. According to experts, the remnants of the rice harvest were burned in around 15.6 lakh hectares (51% of the cultivation area) last year, which was the lowest in recent years. So far, Punjab has received Rs 1,145 crore in Centre subsidies for CRM machinery and has spent Rs 935 crore on providing 90,422 machines to farmers. These include seeders, which do not require the field to be cleared of the previous harvest's remains. The state has received a subsidy of Rs 240 crore for 32,100 machines for 2022-23, bringing the total subsidy to Rs 1,385 crore for 1.2 lakh machines. "Trials with decomposers were conducted at Pusa in Delhi. Two other privately prepared decomposers were also tried. It was found that if the solutions are mixed with water and sprayed on the crop stubble without ploughing the remnants into the soil, full decomposition doesn't take place," said Dhatt. "Such results could be obtained by using rotavators or other machinery." According to him, the entire process could take more than 25 days, which the farmers do not have. While Dhatt stated that he would not recommend the use of bio-decomposers, Punjab agriculture director Gurvinder Singh stated that more trials would be conducted, and if the results were encouraging, the area subjected to the method would be expanded beginning with the following season. "Subsidy has been provided for a sufficient number of machines to control the fires. Government officials and field staff have been asked to prevail upon farmers not to burn residue," he said.