Punjab's agriculture and farmers welfare minister disclosed that the machines would be provided under a ₹350-crore action plan.
Published Aug 13, 2023 | 7:12 PM ⚊ Updated Aug 13, 2023 | 7:12 PM
Stubble burning in Punjab. (Supplied)
In a bid to tackle stubble burning, which leads to major air quality issues in the Delhi National Capital Region (NCR), the Punjab government plans to provide farmers with more than 22,000 subsidised crop residue management machines.
Punjab Agriculture and Farmers Welfare Minister Gurmeet Singh Khuddian disclosed on Sunday, 13 August, that the machines would be provided under the ₹350 crore action plan for the 2023 Kharif season (August-November) to check stubble-burning incidents in Punjab.
He said that crop residue management machinery like super seeder, smart seeder, happy seeder, paddy straw chopper, shredder, mulcher, hydraulic reversible mould board plough and zero till drill for in-situ management and balers for in-ex-situ management would be available on subsidy.
Individual farmers can avail 50 percent subsidy while cooperative societies and custom hiring centres can avail 80 percent subsidy for straw management machinery.
As the window for Rabi crop wheat is very short after paddy harvest, farmers generally set their fields on fire to quickly clear off the crop residue for sowing of the next crop.
It may be noted that in the 2022 Kharif season, Punjab had seen a 30 percent drop in stubble-burning incidents to 49,907 from 71,304 in 2021.
“We have an action plan worth ₹350 crore for the paddy straw management where we aim to bring it down to 50 percent in the majority of paddy sowing districts,” said Punjab Agriculture Director Gurwinder Singh.
Punjab is targeting zero stubble-burning incidents in seven districts Gurdaspur, Pathankot, Hoshiarpur, Rupnagar, Mohali, SBS Nagar and Malerkotla and a 50 percent reduction in stubble fire cases in Patiala, Sangrur, Faridkot and Muktsar districts.
Around 21,000 machines for in-situ management (mixing crop residue in fields) and 1,800 balers for ex-situ (using stubble as fuel) will be given to farmers.
The agriculture department is set to educate and train farmers about the available technologies for the management of crop residues to address the problem of stubble burning in the state.
The Centre had provided funds worth ₹1,400 crore in the last five years to Punjab for crop residue management as a 100 percent grant.
But the Centre this year decided to contribute 60 percent as its share while Punjab would be contributing the remaining 40 percent share in the action plan.
With about 31 lakh hectares of paddy area, Punjab produces over 200 lakh tonnes of paddy straw every year and of which 120 lakh tonnes were being managed through in-situ and ex-situ management methods.
This season, the agriculture department is also anticipating about 10 percent less generation of paddy straw because of the sowing of short-duration PR-126 variety at a sizable area in the state.
The PR-126 variety matures in 93 days after transplantation and it leaves behind less straw as against traditional long-duration crop varieties.
