Farm fire-free in near future? Why Haryana has turned a corner this year

This time of the year, scorched patches and burnt foliage in farms would be a common sight in villages like Pehowa, Shahabad and Bassi in Haryana's Kurukshetra, which is one of the main paddy-growing districts in the state.“The new machines have made a big difference this time. I didn’t need to burn the stubble,” said Vikas Singh, whose farms spread over 25 acres, said, pointing to heaps of straw that lay in stacks next to a baler, the machine Vikas referred to. In a rush to clear fields before sowing the rabi crop, farmers set paddy straw on fire. Multiplied across districts of Haryana and Punjab, this has over the last decade become the most-discussed pollution problem in India because of the choking impact on Delhi and its neighbours.This year, many who have done this for years didn’t because of much greater availability of balers to organise the straw, something they could settle for compared to the alternative of facing cases and penalties, besides the impact of farm smoke on their own health. medium115862137Evidence of their effectiveness is in the farms of Kurukshetra, which recorded 132 farm fires this season. Three years ago, this number was 538. And in other agricultural districts like Kaithal (194 this year, 1,154 in 2021), Karnal (95/955), Jind (213/911), Fatehabad (130/1,477) and Sirsa (181/548). At 1,315, farm fires recorded in Haryana between September 15 and November 25 were 42% lower than last year’s count (2,285) for the same timeframe, according to satellite data compiled by the Indian Agricultural Research Institute (IARI). In 2021, the state had recorded 6,995 farm fires, the worst year in recent times (all farm fire counts are satellite estimates and can be affected by meteorological factors like cloud cover. This year, the skies were largely clear). medium nocaption115868768A plan finally workingThis year’s numbers are not a fluke, nor an aberration. It is, according to farmers and government officials tasked with preventing farm fires TOI spoke to, a result of pieces of the framework plan to improve stubble management finally falling into place.Balers, whose availability was increased manifold this time with the state government procuring them and offering them to farmers at 50% subsidy – which encouraged those with contiguous farmland to pool and share one machine (around Rs 7.5 lakh after subsidy) – played a vital role in this. “After understanding farmers’ issues, we introduced more machines to help them. It didn’t happen overnight. We have given farmers superseeders, which they prefer for in-situ management (of straw). We gave straw balers too. These create bundles of straw that weigh 25-30kg each and can go up to 5 quintals (500kg),” said Bharat Wahi, junior engineer with the agriculture department. According to government officials, around 90,000 superseeders and balers have been deployed at farms state-wide this time.The success of balers has given agriculture department officials confidence that they now have the framework in place to further reduce farm fires next year and work to a plan when the state becomes stubble burning-free, which no longer looks like an impossible target. medium nocaption115868779 medium nocaption115868785Easier for Haryana than PunjabThis year, a decisive factor that aided stubbled management plans was the weather. With monsoon rain not continuing late, farmers got a bigger window to clear their farms. So, there was no mad rush to get rid of the straw, allowing time for balers to do their job. Besides, compared to Punjab, ground realities make implementing a stubble management plan relatively easier in Haryana. For one, the state has only about one-third the paddy cultivation area as Punjab, of which a substantial chunk is used to grow Basmati.Basmati stubble comprises around 30% of the total paddy straw generated in the state. Since it is not as coarse as other paddy varieties, it can be used as cattle fodder, reducing the state’s stubble management load.The farm fire spark came from the burden of in situ management for other farmers, bringing variables like weather and economics into play. In-situ management, which involves mixing straw with soil and letting it decompose till the next crop is grown, takes time and it isn’t a luxury every farmer has. After harvesting paddy, some farmers grow potatoes and peas for extra earnings till it is time to sow wheat, the winter crop. Hence, they want the farms clear as soon as possible. medium115862153The other gap…This year, by decisively improving in situ management of straw, Haryana has covered a good distance in containing farm fires. But this is still, one can argue, only 50% of the problem solved. The other 50%, which will determine the direction of the farm fire graph in the coming years, will come when the state takes the onus of transporting straw packed by balers to power plants.“Transporting the bales to factories is still a challenge. If the govt can help with this, it will be a complete solution,” said Vikas. Ravinder Singh, a farmer at Umri village, said hiring a truck to transport straw to factories costs Rs 1,000 at least, and getting people to load bales on to the truck took another Rs 800. “So, we lose money on this. The nearest factories are around 25-30km away. Government should set up agencies that can take the bales from us to the factories. There is a need for more such units that can use straw,” Ravinder said.Govt estimates that of 81 lakh metric tonnes (LMT) of paddy straw generated in Haryana this season, around 33 LMT could be managed in situ. Around 23 LMT will be used as cattle fodder. The rest, around 25 LMT, requires ex situ management so that it can be directed to industries for use.What has reached industries so far is still very low, underlining the next priority for farm managers. “So far, 8 LMT of the 25.4 LMT earmarked for ex situ management has been purchased or procured by industries,” said S Narayana, director general of Haryana’s renewable energy department.… and how to fill itOwners of small factories that turn paddy straw into pellets, which are then used by power plants to create fuel, said demand is high but getting bales of straw in time is key to their operation. “In 2019, I was able to generate 100 tonnes of pellets per day. Now, it is 200 tonnes. There is a rise in demand, but I need the bales on time. I have tied up with six agencies that get me raw material, but there is definitely a need for more factories and more industries to solve the stubble burning problem completely,” said Ravinder Singh Sandhu, whose firm in Shahabad supplies paddy pellets to National Thermal Power Corporation.Another firm, Hind Samachar LTD located in Pehowa, said it consumes 2,200 tonnes of straw to produce biofuel. “We have tied up with locals who are helping farmers get bales to the factory. We might increase consumption if the process of transportation gets more streamlined,” said Varun Mishra, who is part of the company’s stubble management team.Asked about the gap in stubble available for use and demand by industries, officials said they are working on a “fix”. “It is in the pipeline, and we are planning to raise tenders to firms that will be used for transportation. We are providing machinery to farmers at the earliest. We have also prepared a staggered harvesting schedule for paddy,” said Darshan Singh, technical assistant, agriculture department.Rajnarayan Kaushik, director of the agriculture department, said the state will effectively manage all crop residue. “We have offered incentives to industries and farmers for ex situ management of stubble. This process involves putting to use crop residues in other industries, such as using it as biomass, and redirecting it to packaging and cardboard units. Doing this becomes an economic incentive to avoid burning stubble as industries purchase it from farmers,” he said. medium nocaption115862185‘Why I didn’t burn crop residue this year’ Haryana farmers on what worked, and what didn't“It’s the first time in several years that I did not set fire to my farm to sow wheat,” says Deepak Malik, a 38-year-old farmer whose 100-acre land in Kurukshetra’s Umri is now a carpet of yellow flowers mustard flowers. “I got subsidy and machines on time this season. We can’t just leave stubble on the ground and wait for nature to do the rest. The window between harvesting paddy and sowing other crops is very small,” he explains.Malik has two straw balers and a superseeder machine. After harvesting rice this year, he pooled in with other farmers to purchase these machines from the government at subsidised prices. He is among hundreds of farmers in the state who did not burn their fields before growing wheat, helping Haryana substantially bring down its farm fire count. “Earlier, it used to be a tedious and lengthy process to get these machines, but the process has improved now. The 50% subsidy helps,” Malik says.It did the trick for him this year. He used the baler to quickly pack straw into bundles to feed cattle, and the superseeder machine to mix straw into the soil, till his land and sow wheat all at once.This year, it went smoothly, but Malik says he isn’t sure if the same can be done every year. The cost of the machines, he explains, is a recurring one and subsidies will have to continue.“We are getting subsidies, but these machines are still costly. Straw balers have a life of three years. We don’t have the budget to buy such costly equipment every few years. Govt will need to look into this,” he says.In Shahabad village, some 30km from Umri, another farmer Rajesh Kumar said he got the machines just in time this year.“I have a superseeder machine and it made a huge difference. My fields are ready for the next crop without any burning. The air is cleaner, and we feel healthier. I have hardly seen any other farmers burn their land this season. It is an improvement from previous years, when our village would be covered in smoke,” Kumar says.Satwant Singh (60) of Samani village said he initially tried a reverse plough machine – which lifts the top soil and flips it with the bottom layer – on 40 acres of land. “But that didn’t work. It was not economical either. I had to spend Rs 3,000 per acre. I got the superseeder machine this time and it was very useful,” Singh says.Asked if there were still any worries, the 60-year-old farmer says he could feed residues of basmati rice crops to his cattle, but he also grows non-basmati varieties, and he had to figure out what to do with that stubble.He eventually used straw left over from non-basmati varieties of paddy as fertiliser for his land. “The superseeder machine distributes straw into my fields and within 10 days, my land is ready for the next crop. Why would anyone burn residue when it can be used as a fertiliser?” he says.But there’s another challenge, he pointed out. Small-scale farmers want to grow crops like potatoes and peas in the weeks before sowing wheat to get some extra earnings. “They don’t have time for stubble to get mixed properly into the soil. So, they opt for balers and later need to figure out what to do with bundles of stubble,” he says.Photos: Vinay Gupta