Curbing stubble fires

In a dent to the efforts to prevent paddy stubble burning, this year, ironically, Haryana — especially its northern districts — has recorded even more cases this season. As many as 77 ‘active fire locations’ have been identified across the state. The problem is acute in Punjab, too, which generates over 20 million tonne of paddy straw, a bulk of which is burnt, emitting large amounts of toxic pollutants. Last year, public health emergency was declared in and around Delhi owing to stubble burning.

The farmer is helpless, for he must clear his fields for Rabi crops, primarily wheat. Extended rain further shrank the harvest window. Subsidised paddy mulching machines have been stationed in fields, but the process should have begun sooner and on an even larger scale. Challaning defaulters will not help. If the farmer won’t cooperate, all plans stand doomed. The easiest way, also the most cost-efficient, for the farmer is to burn stubble for he has no use of it. The high silica content renders it unfit as even fodder. The ‘cost’ of paddy production in terms of environment, economics, free power, and groundwater doesn’t really add up. The gains, if any, are slight. Most states like West Bengal, which needed Punjab’s paddy, have become self-sufficient. Surplus paddy of Odisha now goes to the Central pool.

The efforts need greater push to achieve long-term objectives, some being: raising the MSP of other crops; extending fiscal incentive, in the form of direct cash transfers, for stemming paddy cultivation; replicating the FCI/MSP model for assured and swift procurement of other crops to encourage diversification; evolving high-tech agricultural practices, like in Israel, to encourage horticulture and cultivation of exotic vegetables. Paddy straw can be used as compost in mushroom farming. The states must dismantle the paddy-wheat malefic axis. The benefits will be manifold: it will ease the problem of stubble burning; help groundwater, especially in Punjab; prevent misappropriation of PDS grain; promote salubrious air; and, most importantly, with increased profits, and ease of growing and selling, a pleased farmer willing to experiment.