Council on Energy, Environment and Water Integrated | International | Independent
Punjab has doubled down on efforts to curb stubble burning, earmarking INR 500 crore in its 2025–26 budget—but there is more to the problem than just the fires. Since 2018, over 2.95 lakh machines have been distributed in the NCR states, including Punjab, Haryana, Uttar Pradesh, and NCT of Delhi, under the Crop Residue Management (CRM) scheme. Yet, the stubble burning crisis persists. Over 25,000 farm fires were reported across states during the Kharif season in 2024 alone. While the Union government's CRM guidelines from 2023 recognised the growing challenge of outdated and discarded machinery, no mechanisms have been introduced to manage the ageing fleet yet.
A key gap remains: the lack of a decommissioning process for old CRM machines, as new machines are introduced year-on-year. Assessing the current demand and operational capacity of the existing machinery fleet is crucial to determining yearly machinery requirements and optimising deployment to solve the stubble-burning crisis.
This blog explores what happens to subsidised CRM machines once they become outdated. We spoke to farmers, custom hiring centre (CHC) operators, machine manufacturers, and government officials in Punjab to explore the end-of-life of CRM machines. As the Ministry of Agriculture and Farmer Welfare (MoAFW) gears up to revise the CRM guidelines, we propose a solution grounded in circular economy principles to sustainably manage farm machinery while addressing farmer needs.
Over the years, the Union government has launched newer CRM machinery models under the scheme to curb farm fires. Starting with Happy Seeders in 2018, the scheme later included Super Seeders (2019), Smart Seeder (2022), and Surface Seeder (2023). Late in 2024, the Punjab Agricultural University also initiated field trials for a new machine, the Mitter Seeder, as a cost-effective solution for residue management.
While the influx of machines continues, there has been a limited focus on their end of life. Since 2018, ~2.5 lakh CRM machines have been deployed in Punjab and Haryana. As of the end of FY 2024–25, nearly 30 per cent of this fleet is already over five years old (Figure 1). Machine users—farmers and custom hiring centres–report declining demand for certain models, particularly Happy Seeders, many of which became defunct before their five-year mark. In Punjab, Happy Seeders comprise around ~10 per cent of the CRM machines distributed.
According to a 2022 survey by the Council on Energy, Environment and Water (CEEW), while 76 per cent of Punjab's farmers used Super Seeders or Rotavators, only 8 per cent used Happy Seeders due to farmers' psychological barriers and perceived impact on wheat yields sown using the machines. An ongoing CEEW study of CHCs, conducted with the Punjab Development Commission in Oct-Nov 2024, also informs that some CHCs initially procured Happy Seeders for their popularity and rental potential; these machines now lie idle, depreciating and occupying space, effectively locking in public investment.
Currently, the CRM scheme lacks a structured mechanism to manage such outdated and non-operational equipment, exacerbating the farm machinery glut.
Currently, cooperative societies have access to a formal machinery decommissioning process governed by the Punjab Co-operative Societies Act of 1961. This process involves an auction conducted after obtaining a No Objection Certificate from the state agriculture department and advertising the auction publicly. However, conversations with cooperatives revealed delays in approvals and challenges in selling machines at the end of their lifespan, often resulting in repeated applications and further price drops. Some reported never initiating the process due to these hurdles, leaving unsold, defunct machinery to depreciate.
Meanwhile, other machinery owners, including farmers or CHCs set up by Registered Farmer Groups, Farmer Producing Organisations, and self-help groups, have no formal disposal process despite owning almost 90 per cent of CRM machines in Punjab. Without guidelines, these stakeholders turn to informal routes, such as selling machines to junkyards or unregulated buyers.
[L to R] A CEEW researcher visiting a junkyard that has procured CRM machines in Dirba, Sangrur, Punjab; Happy Seeder in front of a machine junkyard in Dugal Kalan, Patiala
Obsolete CRM machines contain recoverable metal that can be repurposed or recycled. Yet, without structured recovery systems, this economic and environmental value remains untapped. This is not just a CRM problem—many agricultural machines offered under the Sub-mission on Agriculture Mechanisation (SMAM), which provides 50–80 per cent subsidies, also lack end-of-life management plans for non-operational inventory. Incorporating principles of circularity will enable India to establish a long-term strategy for sustainably managing agricultural machines across use cases.
India can learn from certain other Union government schemes and global best practices. The Ministry of Road Transport and Highways’ Vehicle Scrappage Policy (2021), for instance, offers a good blueprint by focusing on resource recovery and pollution control. It includes a network of designated scrappage facilities and financial incentives for phasing out polluting vehicles. Countries like the US, Germany, Canada, China, and the UK have also introduced similar structured scrappage policies.
South Korea’s Agricultural Mechanization Promotion Act mandates authorised disposal through recycling and selling second-hand machine parts. The US supports end-to-end metal recovery, which ensures the extraction and recycling of both ferrous and non-ferrous materials. Australia’s National Tyre Product Stewardship Scheme has established a network of partners across the tyre supply chain to promote responsible end-of-life tyre management. The UK Plastics Pact encourages participating companies to voluntarily incorporate about 30 per cent of recycled plastic in the manufacturing of new products. They also mandate the disposal of hydraulic fluids from machines through licensed waste carriers under its Hazardous Waste Regulations.
Private players have also begun adopting these circular approaches to recycle old agricultural machines. The US-based agricultural equipment manufacturer John Deere refurbishes old parts for resale as new products. CNH Industrial remanufactures and supplies machine components to dealers and customers. Shriram Automall India auctions pre-owned farm vehicles and equipment through their phygital platform.
Source: Authors’ compilation
To prevent a machinery management crisis, the Union government should:
Incorporating these steps into the upcoming 2025 CRM guidelines will relieve machinery owners' financial stress, optimise public investment, and enable long-term sustainability in agricultural mechanisation.
Srishti Jain is a Research Analyst, Khushi Sharma is a Research Intern, and Kurinji Kemanth is a Programme Lead at the Council on Energy, Environment and Water (CEEW), New Delhi. Send your comments to [email protected]
