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LATEST NEWS UPDATES | Punjab's burning problem -Jacob Koshy & Vikas Vasudeva

Punjab's burning problem -Jacob Koshy & Vikas Vasudeva

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published Published on Oct 27, 2018   modified Modified on Oct 27, 2018
-The Hindu

Farmers in Punjab continue to burn paddy stubble every winter despite a ban on the practice. Jacob Koshy and Vikas Vasudeva report on the compulsions that drive farmers to adopt this method of clearing their fields and the efforts by the State administration to wean them off it

The highway to Bibipur, a hamlet about 50 km from Patiala town, cuts through acres of paddy. Some of the rice stalk are still a couple of feet high and green but many fields have taken on the distinctive yellow of straw that is ready to be harvested. About 200 km northwest of Patiala, in Amritsar — from where the monsoon winds recede earlier — the fields have already been harvested and readied for the winter crop. In Patiala, this step is still some time away, as the fires attest. Flaming carpets belch white smoke into the clear blue sky along this stretch of highway.

Until October 14, 321 cases of fires were recorded in Amritsar. In contrast, there were only 81 in Patiala, according to the Punjab Remote Sensing Centre, Ludhiana, which tracks such fires via satellites and reports them to the government. Punjab alone generates about 20 million tonnes of straw, three-quarters of which are burnt. Behind the generation of such a huge volume of chaff is the increasing popularity of combine harvesters. Farmers prefer these machines as it helps them save on the high labour costs of manual harvesting. But one advantage of manual harvesting is that the stalk which remains is extremely small and does not impede the sowing of fresh seed. But the machines leave stubble shavings that are 6-8 inches high, which if not cleared make fresh sowing impossible.

There are just two things needed for the quickest and the cheapest way to get rid of this stubble: diesel and a match box. Not surprisingly, setting the stubble on fire to prepare the fields for wheat has become a common practice in Punjab. Until a few decades ago, the straw generated by the machines was manageable. They could be sold to the packaging industry and also turned into mulch within the field through the natural, slow process of organic decomposition. Now, however, with about 20 million tonnes of straw generated in the State, and barely two to three weeks to dispose them of and prepare the fields for the next crop, cost-conscious farmers are left with few options other than burning the whole lot.

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The Hindu, 27 October, 2018, https://www.thehindu.com/news/national/other-states/punjabs-burning-problem/article25339426.ece?homepage=true


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