The Centre aims to work towards achieving zero paddy stubble burning incidents in the current season, Agriculture Minister Narendra Singh Tomar said on Friday.
To achieve this, Uttar Pradesh, Punjab, Haryana and Delhi governments presented their action plan and strategies for preventing paddy stubble burning at an inter-ministerial meeting on Thursday.
Stubble burning is a process of setting on fire the straw stubble, left after the harvesting of paddy. It is a common practice in October and November primarily in Punjab, Haryana, and Uttar Pradesh.
"The aim in the current season is to work towards achieving zero stubble burning," Tomar said.
The Centre is providing sufficient funds under Crop Residue Management (CRM)scheme to the four states and they must ensure proper utilization by providing machine to farmers in a timely manner, he said in a statement.
There is a need for proper monitoring at the state level to ensure proper utilization of the machines and the use of bio-decomposer,he added.
Tomar further said focus should also shift on using paddy straw for commercial purpose by way of ex-situ management.
Awareness creation to prevent stubble burning through various mechanisms needs to be stepped up. Agencies like Agriculture Technology Management Agencies (ATMA) need to be used to their full potential, he added.
In the meeting, Tomar mentioned that the events of paddy stubble burning are continuously coming down. However, paddy stubble burning is not just related to pollution of Delhi and its adjoining areas. It is also creating a detrimental effect on the farm land by adversely affecting the soil health and its fertility.
"Hence, our efforts have to be both for fighting air pollution in Delhi and for protecting the soil health, thereby protecting the ultimate interests of our farmers," Tomar added.
Environment Minister Bhupender Yadav said that the efforts to prevent paddy stubble burning for the last five years are bearing good results.
"There is a need to encourage ex-situ management of paddy straw which will provide raw materials to the user industries like power, bio mass, etc," he added.
Agriculture ministers of Uttar Pradesh, Punjab, Haryana and Delhi, environment ministers as well as senior officials from the central government were present in the meeting.