Council on Energy, Environment and Water Integrated | International | Independent
Suggested citation: Kurinji, L. S, and Srish Prakash. 2021. Why Paddy Stubble Continues to be Burnt in Punjab? Meeting Challenges with Solutions. New Delhi: Council on Energy, Environment and Water.
This study examines the drivers of continued stubble burning in Punjab and reflects on the state's preparedness towards managing crop residue in the winter of 2021. It is based on a multi-stakeholder consultation that included interviews with officials from the Department of Agriculture, Krishi Vigyan Kendras, operators of Custom Hiring Centres (CHCs) and representatives from farm unions across 17 districts to capture varying perspectives on the issue. The study also aims to support the Punjab government in identifying pitfalls in the existing policy landscape and ensuring timely access to crop residue management options to farmers.
Millions of people living in the Indo-Gangetic Plains (IGP) bear the brunt of the decades-old crop residue burning practice in Punjab, which jeopardises their health in multiple ways. In the past, the central and state governments have implemented several policy measures ranging from subsidising crop residue management (CRM) machines to providing cash incentives for small farmers, who do not burn the straw, to banning crop residue burning. However, despite the intent and efforts, stubble burning persists and presents an important public policy conundrum.
Millions of people living in the Indo-Gangetic Plains (IGP) bear the brunt of the decades-old stubble burning practice1 in Punjab, which jeopardises their health in multiple ways. The economic and health impacts of this practice has led to the formulation of an array of policy measures targeted at reducing crop residue burning (Balakrishnan et al. 2020). These policies range from subsidising crop residue management (CRM) machines to incentivising small farmers who do not burn to an outright ban on crop residue burning (MoAFW 2018; Rambani 2019; PTI 2019). Despite efforts for several years by various arms of the government, the farm fires have spiked in 2020, as residue burning was reported from more than 50 per cent of the area sown under paddy (CREAMS 2020). Therefore, this issue poses a serious concern.
With yet another stubble burning season not very far away, we reflect on the state’s residue generation and preparedness for managing residue from paddy in the upcoming season. To gain an understanding of the scenario, we interviewed a host of stakeholders across 17 districts in Punjab and gathered insights on the accessibility and affordability of crop residue management solutions and farmers’ preferences for the available solutions. Besides generating primary data from stakeholders, we used secondary data from government reports, parliamentary questions, and newspaper articles to assess the implication of changes in the notified date of sowing, the area under paddy, the number of in-situ CRM machines, and ex-situ utilisation capacity.
Despite Punjab government’s efforts to diversify the Kharif crop mix, paddy remains the dominant Kharif crop in the state (ESOPB 2020). This year, the state’s area under paddy was 30.66 lakh hectares, declining marginally by 2.63 per cent from 2020 (31.49 lakh hectares). In addition, despite a gradual decline over the last five years, the late-maturing high-profit PUSA 44 variety of paddy remains the dominant seed variety (Nibber 2020, 2021a). Further, this year’s notified date of paddy transplantation was the 10th of June (The Tribune 2021a). This should theoretically provide farmers with ample time to manage the residue. However, the same was true last year (transplantation date was 13th June), and yet the number of fire events in 2020 was the highest in the last four years (Joshi 2021; PRSC 2021).
Despite an increase in the number of in-situ crop residue management (CRM) farm implements deployed, their adoption remains limited. According to government records, by 2020, 76,626 CRM machines were deployed in Punjab, which includes 13,316 Happy Seeders and 17,697 Super Seeders. Sangrur district has the maximum number of Happy and Super Seeders, followed by Muktsar, Bathinda, and Mansa.
The state though is still short of CRM machines to cater to the large area under paddy (Hindustan Times 2021a). The current penetration of these machines in a few high-burn districts such as Amritsar, Patiala, and Ludhiana is far below the ideal requirement and therefore needs to be scaled up significantly. The existing stock, if deployed at full capacity, is estimated to cover only 17 lakh hectares in Punjab, which corresponds to 66 per cent of area sown under non-basmati variety in 2021. In addition, a majority of these machines remain underutilised. Farmers’ misperceptions of the impact of the Happy Seeder on the productivity of wheat sown using this machine is a cause of its low popularity. The custom hiring centre (CHC) system, which was meant to improve access to these machines, has not achieved the expected rates of adoption. The rental model is plagued with delays and sees poor uptake as a significant proportion of farmer’s desire to own a CRM machine. The awareness of FARMS App, which was aimed to popularise the CHC model and create an online marketplace for renting CRM machines, is quite poor among the farmers. Further, diesel price hikes in 2021 have led to the operational cost of Happy Seeder and Super Seeder going up, respectively, by 8.25 and 5.25 per cent, compared to 2019 price levels, reducing their appeal among the farmers.
and continues to remain below 1 million tonnes, which is less than 6 per cent of the paddy residue generated in the state. The high cost of densified biomass and lack of supply chain actors like biomass aggregators, processors, and storage facilities have made the existing ex-situ ecosystem a laggard. The state’s recent policy measure allowing industries to use crop residue in their boilers is a step in the right direction (DIPR Punjab 2021). However, this policy is expected to take time to mature and may have only a little impact on the forthcoming season.
A recent addition to the suite of in-situ CRM is the PUSA decomposer, which manages crop residue within two to three weeks of application (The Hindu 2021). A single packet, costing INR 20, mixed with 25 litres of water can be used for residue generated from one hectare of land (Mohan 2021b). The PUSA decomposer thus presents an economically viable and time-efficient solution to stubble burning. Still, the development and adoption of the decomposer are at a nascent stage. In 2020, its use was limited to 200 hectares across five villages in Punjab (PIB 2021). While the decomposer might be economically viable and eco-friendly, its potential needs to be demonstrated at a large scale for improving farmers’ awareness and finding their acceptance.
The prevailing sentiments due to the recent agricultural reforms have had an undesired impact on stubble burning. The Commission for Air Quality Management in National Capital Region and Adjoining Areas Act, 2021 empowers the commission to levy an environmental compensation on farmers for stubble burning, adding momentum to the prevailing sentiments (MoL&J 2021; Mohan 2021a). The persistence of these sentiments poses a major barrier to the efforts in reducing crop residue burning.
Crop residue burning incidents commence every September with unfailing regularity in Punjab and rise steadily as the weeks pass. This well-established pattern leads to an ‘airpocalypse’, paralysing northern India with the onset of winter every year (Kurinji 2019; Kurinji, Khan, and Ganguly 2021; Jethva et al. 2019). Multiple factors, such as the paddy–wheat cropping system and consequent mechanised harvesting that leaves behind residue in the field, delayed sowing to conserve groundwater, labour scarcity, and the lack of viable markets for residue, are responsible for stubble burning in Punjab (Gupta 2019; Kurinji 2019).
In recent years, the health and economic impacts of stubble burning have gripped the attention of citizens, the media, the government, and the judiciary. The central and state governments have implemented various policy measures ranging from subsidising crop residue management (CRM) machines to providing cash incentives for small farmers who do not burn and an outright ban on crop residue burning (MoAFW 2018; Rambani 2019; PTI 2019). Despite the government’s intent and efforts at mitigating this menace, stubble burning presents an important public policy conundrum. This was evident from the sharp rise in stubble burning incidents in 2020 (Figure 1), as residue burning was reported from more than 50 per cent of the area sown under paddy (CREAMS 2020).
Figure 1 Punjab recorded over 70,000 farm fires during Kharif 2020, the second highest in the last decade.
With yet another stubble burning season looming large in Punjab, we realise that a business-as-usual approach would prove to be detrimental and timely access to alternatives is needed to mitigate the crisis. In this study, we synthesise and assess the variables that impact stubble burning, identify gaps in the existing alternatives, and discuss approaches that could lead to better residue management. The main objective of this study is to aid the Punjab government in identifying pitfalls in the existing policy landscape and ensuring timely access to CRM alternatives to farmers.
We employed a mixed-methods approach in this study. We conducted telephonic interviews with relevant stakeholders across 17 districts (74 per cent of the districts) between July and August 2021 (Figure 2). Our interviewees included officials from the Department of Agriculture in the Punjab government and Krishi Vigyan Kendras (KVK),2 operators of custom hiring centres (CHCs), representatives from farm unions, and manufacturers of CRM machinery (the details of the interviewees are listed in Annexure 1). Officials of the Department of Agriculture were selected through snowball sampling, and operators of custom hiring centres were identified using a stratified random sampling method.3 Data on CHCs for sampling was accessed from the FARMS app developed by the Ministry of Agriculture and Farmers’ Welfare (MoAFW) (MoAFW, n.d.). The survey covered the following themes:
1. The operating cost of in-situ CRM machines vis-à-vis the rising fuel cost
2. Farmer’s preferences among these machines
3. Influence of farmers’ sentiments on crop residue burning.
Besides generating primary data from stakeholders, we used secondary data from government reports, parliamentary questions, and newspaper articles to assess the change in the notified date of sowing and transplantation, the area under paddy, the number of insitu CRM machines, and ex-situ utilisation capacity.
Figure 2 Profile of our interviewees
In this section, we pay attention to the variables such as the area sown under paddy, the prevalent varieties of paddy, and the mandated date of transplanting that determine Punjab’s residue generation and the choice of residue management.
Owing to water scarcity in the state, the Punjab government has consistently stressed the need for crop diversification (ESOPB 2020). However, against the state’s 2021 diversification target of 3.25 lakh hectares under cotton, 5.37 lakh hectares under basmati, and 1.50 lakh hectares under maize, the state could only achieve 3.04 lakh hectares for cotton, 4.85 lakh hectares for basmati, and 1.26 lakh hectares for maize (Chaba 2021; Kamal 2021). Though the targets have been very modest and not really followed up with matching incentives like those in the rice–wheat system, it is encouraging to note that diversification has indeed taken place, albeit slowly.
The area under paddy in Punjab this year is 30.66 lakh hectares, which is only 2.6 per cent lower than 31.49 lakh hectares in 2020. Of the sown area this year, 25.81 lakh hectares were devoted to the non-basmati variety (Kamal 2021) (Figure 3). This implies that this year, similar to last year, the state will generate nearly 16 million tonnes4 of residue. This enormous quantum of stubble is bound to make its management a logistical nightmare.
Figure 3 Area under non-basmati paddy in 2021 in Punjab declined by 5.5 per cent compared to 2020
The varieties of paddy that are sown have a direct relationship with stubble burning. The high-yield, highprofit PUSA 44 variety is infamous for its long gestation period and enormous residue generation (Nibber 2020, 2021a). The long gestation period leaves farmers with little time to manage the vast quantities of residue this variety of paddy generates (MoAFW 2019). The state government has been promoting short-duration varieties like PR 121 and PR 126, which mature in 140 and 123 days, respectively, while PUSA 44 matures in about 160 days after seeding (The Tribune 2021b). PR 121 has now become popular among the farmers due to its yield stability across environments (NGT 2019). However, despite a gradual decline in area under PUSA 44, it remains the dominant variety in Punjab and is likely to add to the problem of crop residue burning (Figure 4). Both government records and responses from the state agriculture department confirm PUSA 44 to be the dominant paddy variety for this season as well (MoAFW 2021b). Our interviews revealed that PUSA 44 is one of the most dominant varieties in the districts of Barnala, Bathinda, Ludhiana, Patiala, and Sangrur, which are also among the high-burn districts in the state (Kurinji 2019). Secondary data from the MoAFW also indicate a high prevalence of PUSA 44 in these districts (MoAFW 2021b).
Figure 4 Long-duration PUSA 44 remains a dominant paddy variety in Punjab
Another variable that influences stubble burning is the notified date of sowing. Being a water-intensive crop, paddy has already made a significant dent on Punjab’s water table (CGWB 2020). To arrest the declining groundwater levels, the state enacted the Punjab Preservation of Subsoil Water Act, 2009, prohibiting paddy sowing and the subsequent transplantation before the respective notified dates in May and June (Dept. of Legal & Legislative Affairs 2009). This delayed date is intended to synchronise transplantation with the onset of monsoon. However, this creates a time crunch for eco-friendly residue management and contributes to residue burning. This year, as paddy transplantation commenced on 10 June, it should ideally result in an early harvest (The Tribune 2021a). An early harvest should, therefore, provide farmers with extra time to manage the stubble. However, the same was true last year (transplantation date was 13th June), and yet the number of fire events was the highest in the last four years (Figure 1) (Joshi 2021; PRSC 2021).
Crop residue can be managed in two ways. The residue left after the crop harvest can either be incorporated back into the soil, or collected and supplied for other applications as boiler fuel in industries and power plants and in packaging materials, among others. These management practices are referred to respectively as insitu and ex-situ. Over the last few years, both the central and the state governments have been recommending the in-situ method as the ideal solution for residue management.
In 2018, the central government launched its flagship CRM scheme, Promotion of Agricultural Mechanization for In-situ Management of Crop Residue in the States of Punjab, Haryana, Uttar Pradesh and NCT of Delhi, to subsidise the cost of CRM machines like the Happy Seeder. Under the scheme, Punjab received INR 810 crore between 2018 and 2020 and an additional INR 235 crore in 2021–22 (Nibber 2021b). The deployment of in-situ CRM machines has received a major boost in Punjab due to the subsidy scheme. By 2020, the state had established 19,834 Custom Hiring Centres and received 76,626 CRM machines (Annexure 3) (Hindustan Times 2021a). The most popular of these machines are the Happy Seeder (HS) and the Super Seeder of which the state has 13,316 and 17,697 respectively (Figure 5). For FY 2021–22, Punjab’s Department of Agriculture has sanctioned an additional 31,970 farm machines under the aforementioned central government’s flagship scheme (Hindustan Times 2021b).
Figure 5 By 2020, 13,100 Happy Seeders and 17,600 Super Seeders were deployed in Punjab
Assuming a maximum daily run time of eight hours, a Happy Seeder can cover 3.2 hectares in a day, whereas the Super Seeder can work through 2.4 hectares. Assuming a maximum window of 20 days between the harvest of paddy and the sowing of wheat, we estimate that one Happy Seeder can cover a maximum of 64 hectares of farmland in a season. A single Super Seeder, in contrast, can cover 48 hectares of land in one season. Multiplying the total number of machines with the area a single machine can cover in one season (20 days), we found that the existing stock of Happy and Super Seeders can be used to manage 8.52 lakh hectares and 8.49 lakh hectares, respectively. Both add up to 17 lakh hectares, which corresponds to 66 per cent of the total area sown under non-basmati paddy in 2021 (Figure 6).
Figure 6 Over 66 per cent of the non-basmati farms can be managed by Happy and Super Seeders if deployed at
District-level stats reported by the MoAFW indicate that Sangrur has the maximum number of Happy and Super Seeders, followed by Muktsar, Bathinda, and Mansa (MoAFW 2021a). If utilised at full capacity, the current stock of machines could be used to manage more than 80 per cent of the non-basmati paddy farms in the districts of Fazilka, Bathinda, Barnala, Mansa, and Muktsar. However, their penetration in a few high-burn districts such as Amritsar, Patiala, and Ludhiana is far from the ideal requirement and for realising maximum benefit, the number of machines deployed in these districts needs to be scaled up significantly.
Figure 7 Punjab burnt residue on more than 50 per cent of farmland in Kharif 2020 despite higher penetration of CRM machines
Going by our calculations, the existing stock of seeders can be used to manage nearly 66 per cent of the nonbasmati farmland, but in reality most machines remain underutilised. For instance, in 2020, 125 out of 22 districts in Punjab burnt crop residue on more than 50 per cent of their land (CREAMS 2020). However, all these districts had a stock of CRM machines that could be used to manage more than 40–50 per cent of the non-basmati farms.
We performed a correlation analysis to examine if the increased equipment supply has contributed to a reduction in stubble burning. We inspected the link between ‘the number of Happy and Super Seeders supplied till 2020 per 1,000 ha of non-basmati area’ and ‘area burnt in 2020’ at the district level. We observed a negative relation between the two variables (Annexure 4), and the correlation coefficient turns out to be very low (–0.14). This makes it difficult to conclusively claim that the increased supply of CRM machines has resulted in reduced stubble burning.
Our interviews suggest farmers’ apprehensions towards wheat crop yields sowed by these seeders as a major reason for the lower adoption of these machines. Furthermore, the lack of a standard operating procedure listing changes needed in terms of fertiliser and irrigation application in areas sown under seeders acts a key barrier to their adoption. This problem can be solved only through extensive training and handholding in the early stages of adoption (Sharma et al. 2019). Our interviews also indicated private ownership of these machines as a stumbling block to their optimal use. Around 40 and 35 per cent respectively of the existing stock of Happy and Super Seeders in Punjab are privately owned (Figure 5). The average size of farmland in Punjab is below 4 hectares, which can be covered by a single Happy Seeder in a little over a day and by a Super Seeder in a little under two days (MoAFW 2016). The fragmented nature of landholding in the state implies that CRM machines under private ownership are unlikely to be operating at their maximum capacity. In the absence of data that ties individual land records of those who own seeder machines in a private capacity, it is impossible to determine if privately owned machines are being used optimally.
The aforementioned central government scheme is designed to promote the CHC (rental) model to improve accessibility of CRM machines for the farmers. By extending the capital subsidy available for farmers’ groups to 80 per cent compared to the 50 per cent available for individuals, the scheme nudges buyers to operate CHCs. This arrangement can be used to overcome two barriers. First, it cuts down the unit cost, which ranges between INR 2 and 3 lakh for the Super Seeder and between INR 1.5 and 1.8 lakh for the Happy Seeder (IndiaMart 2021). The high cost of these machines makes it unaffordable for small farmers despite the availability of the 50 per cent subsidy. Second, it promotes optimum utilisation of a machine. The use of these machines is limited to the paddy harvest season, making them redundant for the rest of the year. This makes it impossible to achieve breakeven cost and utilise them to their maximum capacity. The CHC model is meant to overcome these barriers. But does it?
We asked agricultural officers and operators of CHCs if the CHC model is popular among the farmers. Agricultural officers repeatedly pointed out that farmers in Punjab do not like renting these machines for two reasons. The first is the logistical problem of timely access. The CHC model is plagued by delays due to inefficient logistical management and delays in transport and operation. Farmers are often unsure of the rented machines arriving on time. This bumps up their desire to own a machine. The second is a behavioural issue. Ownership of CRM machines is associated with prestige. Farmers are often reluctant to request others to rent out a CRM machine. Our interviewees suggest that the scope of the CHC model is restricted to small and marginal farmers who cannot afford the seeder machines despite the availability of subsidies.
We also observed a limited use of the FARMS app developed by the MoAFW to increase access to farm implements and popularise the CHC model (MoAFW, n.d.). The app aims to inform farmers of their closest CHCs and facilitate renting (or buying) farm implements similar to renting cabs using the Ola or Uber app (Economic Times 2019). The app contains a range of farm implements, including CRM machines, that can be rented or bought. Data from the FARMS app indicates that while Punjab leads other states in the number of CHCs registered on the app, only 21 implements were hired between September 2019 and September 2021 using the app (Annexure 5). During our interactions, only two of the 13 CHC operators said they were aware of the FARMS app. Of the two, only one had downloaded the app but had never rented out any equipment using it, while the other was simply aware of the app. Despite the availability of the app, our interviewees (CHCs) stated that they relied on local social networks to rent out their implements.
Digitisation of the entire CHC system could improve the CHC model in Punjab, as the state has a literacy rate of 76.7 per cent and a rural internet subscription rate of 47.96 per cent (MHA 2011; TRAI 2020). There is thus an urgent need to popularise this app and leverage its capabilities for the optimum utilisation of CRM machines available with the CHCs In terms of preference for other in-situ machines, our interviewees identified the Happy Seeder as the second most popular machine in Punjab.
A major component of the crop residue burning conundrum is the farmer’s preferences. CEEW’s research suggests that the farmers are acutely aware of the negative impact of stubble burning and are open to using CRM machines provided they fulfil the criteria of availability, affordability, and not damaging the wheat crop (Gupta 2019). However, satisfying these criteria alone does not translate into farmers developing a liking for the machines. The Happy Seeder is the most definitive example of this trend. It sows wheat without removing the paddy stubble, which results in the field looking yellow and the farmer is gripped with anxiety about the health of the wheat crop. Thus the Happy Seeder poses a major psychological barrier for the farmers. Despite some of our interviewees stressing the fact that the Happy Seeder is one of the best machines for the conservation of agriculture, its popularity has nose-dived due to farmers’ poor understanding of the Happy Seeder’s impact on wheat crop yields. The carefully built support and investments for Happy Seeder may be in vain as the farmers prefer newly launched machines like the Super Seeder. Our interviewees also indicate that the Super Seeder trumps the Happy Seeder in terms of farmers’ acceptability
The Happy Seeder and the Super Seeder are tractortowed implements. Our interviewees stated that the diesel consumption of these machines is influenced by the tractor and machine size and their operating speed. The Department of Agriculture recommends a forward speed of 3.5 km/hr for the Happy Seeder and 2 km/hr for the Super Seeder (Singh, Gautam, and Yadav 2017). However, to save time, farmers operate them at greater speeds, which causes fuel inefficiency. Our interviewees mentioned that, on average, the Happy Seeder consumes 16 litres of diesel per hectare (or 6.5 litres per acre). In contrast, Super Seeder consumes 22 litres of diesel per hectare (or 9 litres per acre).
On average, the fuel cost accounts for 25 per cent of the cost associated with the operation of the two machines. In the last two years, diesel prices had shot up from INR 64.12 per litre in September 2019 to INR 73.26 per litre in September 2020 and to INR 88.52 per litre in September 2021 (Bank Bazaar 2021). In relation to price levels of 2019, the diesel cost of these machines jumped 14 per cent in 2020 and 38 per cent in 2021. This has led to an increase in the operating cost of the Happy Seeder from INR 4,850/ha in 2019 to INR 5,250/ha (an increase of 8.25 per cent) in 2021. For the Super Seeder, the cost has increased from INR 6,290/ha in 2020 to INR 6,620/ ha (an increase of 5.25 per cent) in 2021 (Figure 12). The high operating costs remain a significant barrier to the sustained use of these machines.
Figure 8 Fuel price hike has significantly increased the operating cost of the CRM machines
Ex-situ crop residue management6 is highly acceptable among farmers as it does not alter their farmland and provides additional income. Three of the five ‘Kisan’ union leaders interviewed identified exsitu management as an appropriate way of dealing with the paddy stubble. However, the current ex situ capacity pales in comparison to the quantum of residue generated in Punjab (DIPR Punjab 2021).
The state has 11 biomass-based power plants with a capacity to manage 0.88 million tonnes of residue annually. Since 2019, the state’s ex-situ capacity addition has stalled and has not increased beyond 0.88 million tonnes/year (EPCA 2020). The state was to commission two biomass power plants and two bio-CNG plant in the current year, and one bio-ethanol and four bio-CNG plants in late 2022 and 2023 (EPCA 2020; Kurinji and Kumar 2021). Upon execution, these projects would have increased the crop residue utilisation capacity to 1.33 million tonnes/year (EPCA 2020). Still, ex-situ management would only account for 8.5 per cent of the estimated 15.62 million tonnes of non-basmati residue to be generated in 2021. There are no updates though on the execution and commissioning of additional projects.
Apart from the installed capacity, our interviewees highlighted several local-level problems with ex-situ management. These include the following:
Ex-situ management in Punjab also suffers from other drawbacks beyond limited utilisation capacity. The state does not have enough balers, storage capacity, supply chain actors, and skilled workforce to aggregate, store, and efficiently supply the residue it generates. Further, the high delivered cost of biomass supplies and low demand for biomass make it an economically unattractive proposition for entrepreneurs in the supply chain (Kurinji and Kumar 2021).
Augmenting the ex-situ ecosystem in Punjab requires concerted action from the state government, private sector entities, and farmers. While this has been missing historically, the state government has recently announced policy measures to enable the expansion of ex-situ management. In August 2021, the state permitted certain industries such as sugar mills and pulp and paper mills to use paddy stubble as fuel for boilers with a steam-generating capacity of 25 tonnes per hour (TPH) and above (Vasudeva 2021). The government also announced fiscal and non-fiscal incentives to promote the industrial utilisation of paddy stubble. These include the following:
Further in September 2021, the Commission for Air Quality Management (CAQM) directed 11 NCR coal-fired thermal power plants to co-fire biomass pellets with coal for this season which could potentially consume 1.3 million tonnes of residue (Rajpurohit 2021).
While the recent measures for enabling ex-situ options for CRM are to be welcomed as steps in the right direction, they only give a semblance of half-hearted steps that may not yield the desired results, perhaps even in the medium or long term. Until a comprehensive ex-situ policy covering capacity addition and supply chain development is implemented, the ex-situ options would remain inadequately addressed though they hold great promise to tackle the stubble burning issue.
A recent addition to the suite of in-situ CRM is the PUSA decomposer. This capsule-based microbial decomposer developed by the Indian Agricultural Research Institute (IARI) accelerates the decomposition process of crop stubble using which the stubble can be managed within two to three weeks of application (Chakrabarti 2020; The Indian Express 2021; The Hindu 2021). A single packet consisting of four capsules mixed with 25 litres of water can be used to treat the residue on one hectare of land at the cost of just INR 20 (Mohan 2021b). This presents an economically viable and time-efficient solution to stubble burning. But the development and adoption of the decomposer are at a nascent stage. In 2020, its use was limited to 200 hectares across five villages in Punjab (PIB 2021). At present, the decomposer technology has been licensed to 12 companies to facilitate its mass adoption and wider reach (PIB 2021). Even though the decomposer might be an economically viable and wider reach (PIB 2021). Even though the decomposer might be an economically viable and eco-friendly method of CRM, its potential needs to be demonstrated on a large scale for improving farmers’ awareness and winning their acceptance.
The Farmers’ Produce Trade and Commerce (Promotion and Facilitation) Act, 2020, Farmers (Empowerment and Protection) Agreement of Price Assurance, Farm Services Act, 2020, and the Essential Commodities (Amendment) Act, 2020 passed by the Parliament in September 2020 triggered widespread protests among farmers across Punjab and other north-western states. Researchers and the media have identified the sentiments against the three acts as a factor contributing to higher residue burning in Punjab in 2020 (The Hindu 2020; CERCA 2020; Schmall 2020).
We discussed this prospect with farm unions, officials of the Department of Agriculture (Punjab), and operators of CHCs. Twelve of our 28 respondents agreed that farmers’ sentiments against the proposed reforms led to higher stubble burning. Eleven negated this view and five of our respondents chose not to comment. Interestingly, officials from the Department of Agriculture and KVKs were more in agreement with the view that the protests led to higher stubble burning than leaders of farm unions and CHC operators. Eleven of our respondents suggested that protest burning is likely to continue in the Kharif season 2021.
The enactment of The Commission for Air Quality Management in National Capital Region and Adjoining Areas Act, 2021 has added to the prevailing sentiments against agricultural reforms. Section 15 of the Act empowers the commission to “impose and collect environmental compensation from farmers causing air pollution by stubble burning, at such rate and in such manner, as may be prescribed” (MoL&J 2021). Farm unions have previously expressed displeasure over the provision of fines for stubble burning (Mohan 2021a). The persistence of these sentiments is a major barrier to the efforts undertaken to reduce crop residue burning.
Recognising the seriousness of the stubble burning issue in Punjab, we interacted with relevant stakeholders to identify the variables that influence stubble burning, understand how they have changed in recent times, and the implication of these changes. Our assessment indicates that it is unlikely that there will be a significant reduction in crop residue burning in the Kharif season 2021 in Punjab. The silver lining though is the increasing stock of CRM machines and the emergence of the Super Seeder, which despite its high operational cost, has become a farmer’s favourite. Better logistical management and targeted outreach can lead to reduced crop residue burning. For this statement to hold, we recommend the following five E’s:
The per hectare operating cost of the Happy Seeder has increased from INR 4,850 in 2019 to INR 5,250 (an increase of 8.25 per cent) in 2021 due to fuel price hike. For the Super Seeder, the same cost has increased from INR 6,290 in 2020 to INR 6,620 (an increase of 5.25 per cent) in 2021. The rising cost would prove to be a hurdle to the sustained use of these machines. Given the state government’s inability to alter fuel prices, we suggest direct benefit transfers to the users of these machines to compensate for the rising fuel prices. The government should use its existing system of agricultural officers, the panchayat network, and specially designated nodal officers to identify the users of these machines and quantify their use. In addition to these steps, the state government should test the PUSA decomposer for its effectiveness in residue management and economic viability. The use of the decomposer should be demonstrated on a large scale to ensure farmers’ awareness and acceptance.
Our interviewees point to delays in the deliveries of CRM machines in the previous years. These delays contribute to the inefficient utilisation of these machines and this problem has been flagged previously. The agricultural engineering wing of the Department of Agriculture in Punjab must track the delivery of these machines and ensure that they are deployed well before the start of the harvest season.
The state government should initiate campaigns to reduce the apprehensions attached with the rental model. In addition to this step, information campaigns covering the benefits of the Happy Seeder should be initiated to ensure that the existing stock of Happy Seeders does not become redundant. The state government’s rental advisories for CRM machines have not been revised since 2019. We recommend annual revision of these rates to reflect ground realities and make these rates legally enforceable. As an immediate measure, we recommend that the state government uses social networking platforms such as text messages, WhatsApp, Facebook, and other avenues to share the details of these CHCs at the block level to increase their reach beyond their immediate social networks. The state is also launching its own farm machinery rental app called i-khet. The government should launch campaigns to popularise the app and familiarise farmers with its interface and services (Hindustan Times 2021c). The central government has earmarked INR 10 crore in 2021 for publicising its flagship CRM scheme. These funds must be utilised effectively to create behavioural change among the farmers and to promote the FARMS and i-khet apps. In addition, the central government should geotag the CRM machines provided under its subsidy scheme to understand their usage and ensure that they are being utilised up to their maximum capacity.
The state government should verify and ensure that all the existing biomass-based power plants are operating at their maximum capacity. The government had plans to commission two biomass-based power projects and two bio-CNG projects across three districts in the current financial year (EPCA 2020). However, it is not clear whether these plants have been operationalised yet. It is imperative that these plants become operational at the earliest. At the minimum, the state government should ensure that these plants initiate biomass procurement and storage. Besides, the government should also ensure access to ex-situ machines and panchayat lands for handling and storing the residue that these plants can utilise. The central government should also include ex-situ machines under its flagship CRM scheme to enhance their availability.
The state government has previously penalised crop residue burning (Sally 2020). Given the current state of the political economy, enforcing this punitive measure would be difficult in the forthcoming season. However, the state government can use this tool as a last resort to particularly discourage protest burning.
The decades-old practice of stubble burning in Punjab has been resulting in a serious air pollution crisis in northern India. Despite a slew of policy measures and judicial directives, the practice continues to persist. We interacted with relevant stakeholders from 17 districts across Punjab to examine the factors contributing to continued burning in the state and their influence on the current Kharif season. Our discussions suggest that farmers’ choice of CRM depends on the quantum of residue generation (a function of paddy variety and area sown), accessibility, and affordability of CRM solutions.
Despite Punjab government’s effort to diversify crops, paddy remains a dominant crop in the state. In 2021, over 30.66 lakh hectares were sown under paddy, of which 25.81 lakh hectares were under the non-basmati variety. Despite displaying a declining trend in the sown area, the long-duration, high-residue PUSA 44 remains a dominant variety of paddy, at least in the high-burn districts. The lack of significant changes in the area under paddy and continued cultivation of the dominant paddy variety makes it evident that the state has missed out on controlling the quantum of residue that will be generated in the forthcoming season.
Importantly, the state’s ex-situ residue management capacity has also remained stagnant for the last three years. Several projects that were to be commissioned this year have missed their commissioning deadlines. The only development in the ex-situ front has been the state government announcing the policy on allowing and incentivising the use of crop residue in industries in NCR power plants. However, this policy is likely to take time to mature and yield results.
In-situ management remains the most viable CRM option this year. However, our analysis has identified several problems with its adoption at a large scale. These include the inadequacy of the existing stock of the seeder machines, poor utilisation of the available machines, the dismal performance of custom hiring centres, the high operational cost of these machines visà-vis the rising diesel price, and farmers’ perceptions in light of the recently enacted farm laws.
Our assessment concludes that Punjab has a long way to go to eliminate crop residue burning. The reduced area under non-basmati paddy and the rising stock of the Happy Seeders and the Super Seeders presents an opportunity to control burning in the forthcoming season. However, grasping this opportunity requires augmenting the supply of CRM machines, better logistical management of the existing stock of CRM machines, ensuring the financial viability of using these machines, increasing ex-situ utilisation capacity, and dedicated outreach to farmers to bring about their behavioural change.
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