Like every year, North India is grappling with the problem of hazardous air quality. For this crop residue burning is cited as one of the most important cause.

More than 20 million tonnes of paddy straw generated annually in Punjab alone within a short window of less than 45 days; other States also add to this, making its management a challenging task.

Continuous increase in area under paddy in the trans-Gangetic Plains, delayed harvesting allowing a shorter window for wheat sowing, long duration paddy varieties, and mechanized harvesting are some of the well documented reasons responsible for crop residue burning. Around 90 per cent of the paddy area in Punjab is under mechanized harvesting, leaving large quantities of straw in need of disposal.

The Centre and States have implemented several schemes to diversify the cropping pattern, to minimize incidence of residue burning, and manage straw by providing machinery for in-situ incorporation of residue as well as to incentivize alternative uses of the paddy straw ex-situ (away from natural location).

In-situ (situated in the original place) management of straw, while being the ideal solution for improving soil health, remains a challenge for farmers due to several issues, including pests, rodents, difficulty in inter-culture operations, and the availability of suitable machinery.

Cost impact

Farmers — who generate and manage the straw — are also responsible for the cost and effort involved in managing it, which for them is not as simple as burning it.

So there is a pressing need to explore more viable ex-situ management options while addressing challenges related to the bulkiness of the straw, which incurs significant costs in collection, transportation, and storage. The success of ex-situ management will largely depend on the number of alternative uses that can be developed.

State measures

A large share of the paddy stubble can be absorbed as animal fodder, if it undergoes primary processing and the livestock keepers are incentivized to use it. Haryana has a provision of transportation charges of bales at the rate ₹500 per acre to Gaushalas with a maximum limit of ₹15,000.

The Punjab government has similar provisions since 2021. These benefits can be extended to the livestock keepers from other States such as Rajasthan, which faces a significant fodder deficit of over 17 million tonnes, rising during drought years. Given that feed and fodder account for nearly two-thirds of milk production costs, such measures could provide relief to dairy farmers.

The quality of paddy straw is not as good as of wheat and pearl millets. Several technologies have been developed to bring it to the level of other fodder including the urea molasses treatment which can be fed to unproductive animals or mixed with green fodder. Basmati straw, which accounts for more than half of the total paddy area in Haryana and around 15-20 per cent in Punjab is of relatively better quality.

Mushroom growers can grow highly nutritious mushroom on the beds prepared from paddy stubble.

There could be a number of other alternatives uses of paddy straw such as bioenergy, biogas, bioethanol, biochar, paper production, lignin and building material.

Paddy straw can also be converted into biochar, a carbon rich material, which besides utilizing straw, can help in improving soil health and removing heavy metal from groundwater.

However, there is need to minimize the cost of making biochar. States should prepare a plan to sustain these ex-situ measures.

Chand is Senior Scientist and Sharma is Principal Scientist at ICAR-National Institute of Agricultural Economics and Policy Research, New Delhi. Views expressed are personal