Number of stubble burning incidents this year recorded a drop of 53 per cent at 9,730 between September 15 and November 3, as against 20,728 in the year-ago period. However, there has been an upward surge in number of incidents in Uttar Pradesh and Rajasthan.

According to According to Consortium for Research on Agroecosystem Monitoring and Modelling from Space (CREAMS), managed by Indian Agricultural Research Institute (IARI) or Pusa institute, there were 4,132 cases of crop residue burning in Punjab so far this year, which is 68 per cent less than 12,813 incidents caught by satellite monitoring team of Pusa institute in the year-ago period.

According to sources, stubble burning in Punjab has been reported from about 4.6 lakh hectare (lh) area out of which one-third area came from three districts Patiala, Amritsar and Ludhiana (1.53 lh). Even the share of these three districts in the total number of stubble burning incidents in the state is as high as 26 per cent.

Similarly, there were only 857 cases of crop residue burning in Haryana, a fall of 38 per cent from 1,372 incidents in the year-ago period. Madhya Pradesh, too had reportedly 47 per cent lower incidents at 2,369, as against 4,457 year-ago.

But data also show that Uttar Pradesh had 17 per cent rise in number of stubble burning incidents at 1,288 against 1,102 year-ago and Rajasthan 9 per cent up at 1,072 from 982.

“The fall or rise in stubble burning cases depend on the timing of the paddy harvest which is again determined by the transplanting period, since comparison is always against year-ago period whereas both harvesting time may vary year to year,” explained a former agriculture commissioner. The number of incidents at the end of the season (November 30) will be important to analyse whether there is rise or fall in crop residue burnings, he added.

Official sources said that though about 26 per cent of the paddy crop has been harvested across the country, it is higher in northern states where farmers burn the stubble to quickly prepare the field for planting wheat, which commences from first week of November in Rajasthan, Punjab, Haryana and west UP. Sowing of wheat starts from mid-October in Madhya Pradesh and Gujarat.

Data showed that 60-70 per cent paddy crop has been harvested in Punjab whereas it is 60 per cent in Haryana, 45 per cent in Uttar Pradesh, 25-35 per cent in Madhya Pradesh. In eastern and southern states, paddy crop is yet to be harvested, the sources said adding it is even less than 10 per cent in Andhra Pradesh, Assam, West Bengal, Chhattisgarh, Jharkhand, Karnataka and Odisha. In Telangana and Bihar, about 15-16 per cent paddy has been harvested, the sources said.

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