Uphill task for Punjab to stub out stubble fires

Aman Sood

DESPITE over 10,000 officials being on duty and hundreds of crores of rupees spent to tackle stubble burning, farm fires continue to plague north India, with Delhi routinely blaming Punjab and Haryana for its poor air quality in the winter.

Crop Residue Management

Winters have become synonymous with high pollution levels in the National Capital Region, aggravated by crop stubble burning in Punjab, Rajasthan, Haryana and Uttar Pradesh. Law enforcement agencies attempt to curb this menace by imposing penalties, yet farmers continue to set crop residue afire in their fields.

Stubble use

Despite earnest efforts, Punjab still has a long way to go to manage its paddy stubble. In 2021, the state government wooed the industry, including distilleries and breweries, offering to promote stubble use with cumulative fiscal incentives of Rs 25 crore to certain industries.

Officials concerned confirmed that industries such as sugar mills, pulp and paper mills, besides those having boilers with steam generation capacity of more than 25 tonnes per hour, are eligible for the incentives.

According to the Punjab Pollution Control Board (PPCB), the government decided to provide cumulative fiscal incentives to the first 50 existing industries on a first-come-first-served basis.

“Concrete efforts are being made to convince farmers to consider straw as an asset. However, few industries, including brick kilns, are currently using it as a fuel. Our goal is to ensure that 50 per cent of the stubble is put to industrial use by 2025,” says PPCB Member Secretary Karunesh Garg.

New and existing distillery and brewery units, proposing replacement of old boilers or expansion with installation of new boilers, are required to use paddy straw as fuel. The government is also keen to allow non-fiscal incentives to such industries in terms of availability of panchayat land for storage of paddy straw with a 33-year lease agreement.

However, brick-kiln manufacturers claim that though the initiative is good and will help save on coal costs, it’s not practical till all kilns are asked to cut down on coal and use stubble pellets. “It burns too quickly and its regular supply and storage is an issue,” they say.

The short window between paddy harvesting and sowing of wheat leaves most farmers with no option but to resort to farm fires. “If we sow wheat without removing straw, the rabi crop gets infested with pests and weeds. Two years ago, I decided not to burn stubble. However, it led to a drop in the wheat yield,” says Jaskaran Singh, a farmer from Doraha (Ludhiana).

Officials of the Agriculture Department say they would create greater awareness this time against stubble burning, adding that low yield cannot be attributed to in-situ management of crop residue.

The Centre has been promoting in-situ management of crop residue, which includes incorporation in soil, mulching, baling/binding for use as domestic/industrial fuel, fodder.

The state government has rolled out a slew of subsidies and incentives. These have also failed to bring about a major change. Farmers have been red-flagging problems regarding the efficiency of the machines, their availability and high cost.

Delivery of machinery

With the paddy harvest season in full swing in Punjab, the state Agriculture Department has started delivering machines for in-situ (mixing in the soil) management of stubble.

Agriculture Minister Kuldeep Dhaliwal claims they would distribute 56,000 machines under in-situ management this season. With this, the total number of machines would increase to 1,46,422 from 90,422.

Officials say the delivery of machines got off to a slow start but would pick up pace once farmers completed the sale of their kharif produce and had money to pay the non-subsidised part of the cost of machines.

Even though the delivery of machines has started, farm fires continue to be reported in the state. Punjab has already logged around 1,000 farm fires till October 15.

Incentives for farmers

In September, Punjab Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann said the Centre had turned down the state government’s proposal of contributing to the cash incentive to farmers for not burning stubble. The state had proposed to give Rs 2,500 per acre to paddy growers. It suggested that the Centre pay Rs 1,500/acre, while Rs 1,000 would be contributed by Punjab and Delhi governments. “Without financial benefits, it is impossible not to set stubble on fire,” say representatives of farmer unions.

Farmers complain that the number of machines is quite less as compared to the area under paddy cultivation (30 lakh hectares). “Machines were not available last year too. It’s easier to burn crop residue rather than wait for machines,” says Satnam Singh Behru, president, Consortium of Indian Farmers’ Associations.

According to government data, the state recorded 71,304 stubble-burning incidents in 2021, 76,590 in 2020, 55,210 in 2019 and 50,590 in 2018, with districts such as Sangrur, Mansa, Bathinda and Amritsar witnessing a large proportion of such incidents. Every season, over 15 million tonnes of paddy straw is burnt in the fields ahead of winter sowing.

“Burnt area under paddy during 2021 was estimated to be 14.17 lakh hectares up to November 20, 2021, whereas the burnt area during 2020 was 17.42 lakh hectares, showing a decline of 3.25 lakh hectares (18.65%). With continuous efforts of all stakeholders, the burnt area is expected to further decline significantly,” says Karunesh Garg.

Punjab dossier

• Paddy cultivated on 31.13 lakh hectares in 2022 in Punjab, resulting in generation of about 19.76 million tonnes of straw.
• Policy notified to promote use of paddy straw as fuel under the state policy for incentives.
• Only those bio-ethanol units eligible for incentives which shall install paddy straw-based boilers.
• First 50 existing industries in the state being provided with cumulative fiscal incentives of Rs 25 crore on first-come-first- served basis for using paddy straw as fuel in boilers.
• The incentives include reimbursement of 100% net SGST for 7 years, with a cap of 75% of total investment for installation of paddy straw-fired boilers and 100% exemption/ reimbursement from stamp duty on purchase or lease of land & building to be exclusively used for storage of paddy straw.
• Land is being provided by Department of Rural Development on lease basis for 33 years to industries which propose to use paddy straw.
• Techno-feasibility studies being carried out for use of paddy straw briquettes in brick kilns.