Despite Multipronged Efforts, Farm Fires Remain a Burning Issue

In the last quarter each year, October to December a blanket of thick, toxic smog envelops the National Capital Region (NCR) and parts of north India, choking normal life. Much of the bad air is caused by rampant stubble burning in the neighbouring states of Punjab, Haryana, and Western Uttar Pradesh. As on November 20, 2024 the contribution of stubble burning to Delhi’s PM 2.5 levels was 17.3 per cent according to the Indian Institute of Tropical Meteorology (IITM) in Pune.

Unfortunately, despite concerted efforts of civil society, farmers, state and district administrations, the scourge continues unabated. Incidents of stubble burning have increased manifold over the last two-three years, indicating that the farmer-industry efforts to repurpose stubble for commercial applications is yet to deliver.      

Sporadic interventions

With studies indicting stubble burning as the major contributor to the smog that throttles the NCR through winters, a carrot-and-stick strategy has been adopted by state governments and local administrators to curb the menace. The multipronged strategy includes health awareness programmes to sensitise farmers and village communities and monetary incentives to discourage the practice of stubble burning coupled with threats of punitive legal action. Further, district administrators continue to seek sustainable solutions such as a commendable initiative of a district-level civil servant in Ambala.

Upon taking charge as District Collector, Vikram Yadav, an IAS officer helped reduced cases of stubble burning in the district by nearly 80%, by equipping farmers to switch to cleaner alternatives for crop residue disposal. Within months of initiating his plan, the officer deployed the state machinery to reduce stubble-burning incidents, while ensuring that no penalties were levied on the farmers.

As per estimates of the Indian Agricultural Research Institute (IARI), persistent efforts in stubble burning management, reduced the number of paddy residue burning incidents during 2023, by around 27 per cent in Punjab and 37 per cent in Haryana. Experts, however, point out that sporadic efforts to manage stubble burning have only limited and localised effects at best and to be effective they need to be scaled to a pan-regional level, covering all the relevant districts across the states. This would require multiple state governments and district administrations to work as a team, cutting across administrative silos.

What worked for Ambala 

In Ambala, Vikram Yadav began studying the data and causes of stubble-burning incidents, before working on possible solutions. What eventually made a difference were the training programmes and awareness camps conducted by the state administration ahead of every harvest season that begins in September. This helped bring down the cases of stubble burning dramatically, says Yadav.

“We started the preparation from June itself, which marks the start of the paddy crop season,” says Yadav. “The administration conducted seminars and meetings with the farmers and made everyone aware of the issues.” Yadav and his team ensured that the top performers in the stubble management programme were honoured at the district level. “By doing so, we made the rest of the farmers aware of their model. And then, we taught them the techniques through handholding,” he said.

Alternatives to Farm Waste Disposal

Compressed Biogas (CBG) is an increasingly popular, upcoming technology for managing stubble across northern India. EverEnviro, a leading developer of CBG technology, points out that the technology transforms agricultural residues, like crop stubble into renewable fuel sources, thereby addressing both environmental and economic needs. By providing an alternative to stubble burning, CBG directly contributes to reducing smog levels and enhancing air quality.

According to Mahesh Girdhar, MD and CEO at EverEnviro, the technology helps farmers to harvest the stubble, which is collected through a reaper and is baled. “We procure baled rice straw during the rice harvesting season and use it as fuel or a feedstock for making bio-CNG and bio-fertiliser in our plants.” Currently, the company has two operational projects and is setting up another seven to eight in Punjab. Each project consumes nearly about 100 to 130 tons of rice straw per day, translating into around 335,000 to 40,000 of the straw per year. “We have deployed machinery which is used by village-level entrepreneurs to clear the fields on time,” Girdhar says.

Apart from reducing emissions by curbing stubble burning, the bio-CNG produced drives vehicles, replacing CO2 emitting fossil fuels. These plants also produce organic manure with very high organic carbon content as well as traces of micronutrients that help enhance soil health.

The process involves reducing the straw into small sizes and converting it into a slurry. The fine-grained straw is turned into raw biogas, which is then purified and sent to CNG retail stations. “In some of our projects we have pipelines connected to our plant, which carry the purified gas to industries or to CNG pumps,” says Girdhar.

The CBG approach represents a strategic shift towards renewable energy solutions, fostering a circular economy that benefits both the environment and local communities. These plants produce bio-CNG as a renewable fuel while converting the feedstock or straw into digestate through an anaerobic process, which is then processed into organic manure, which is sold back to the farmers.  “Each plant has been mitigating roughly 50,000 ton CO2-equivalent emissions, creating about 150 to 200 jobs in the surrounding areas,” Girdhar says.

Government Support

The Ministry of Petroleum and Natural Gas introduced a scheme called Sustainable Alternative Towards Affordable Transportation (SATAT), under which it encourages entrepreneurs to set up CBG plants in the country based on different agricultural feedstock. Any organic biomass generated by sugar mills or municipal solid waste can be converted into bio-CNG and organic manure.

Meanwhile, to support the efforts of the Governments of Punjab, Haryana, Uttar Pradesh and Delhi, the Centre initiated a crop residue management scheme in 2018-19, which subsidises the cost of crop residue management machinery to farmers by 50 per cent. Cooperative Societies, Farmer Produce Organisations (FPOs) and Custom Hiring Centres (CHCs) get an 80% financial assistance. 

Enhancing Awareness and Accessibility

Corporate India too has been playing its part in wider dissemination of knowledge about stubble management best practices and technology solutions.

In 2022, the Government of Haryana along with Deloitte India completed its pilot climate leadership project on ‘Crop Residue Management’ (CRM) that helped reduce stubble incidents and manage air pollution in the Karnal district’s red zone villages. The pilot project across six villages reduced the incidence of stubble by nearly 70% that year.

Taking a cue from that success, Deloitte scaled up the project to 666 villages in nine districts of Haryana in 2023. The initiative mobilised farmers, communities and private sector partners with the help of a multilingual mobile application called ‘Krishi Yantra Sathi’. The platform’s main function was to match the farmer’s demand for equipment to manage the crop residue by allocating the machinery efficiently and quickly.

“To raise awareness about managing stubble from farmland, we implemented door-to-door campaigns, WhatsApp messages, street plays, and videos featuring the 'Progressive Farmer Mascot – Parivartan Prakash.' Additionally, we worked closely with district administration officials to engage the villages effectively," says Viral Thakker, Partner and Sustainability Leader at Deloitte India.

To address the shortage of equipment and availability, Deloitte has partnered with the Haryana State CSR Trust and is providing 15 sets of CRM Equipment, including tractors, slashers, hay rakes, balers, trolleys, and seeders to the Department of Agriculture and Farmers’ Welfare, Karnal. So far, most of the work has been concentrated in Haryana. However, with the launch of a pilot project in Patiala earlier this year, the initiative has now expanded to Punjab as well.