Claims received for not burning paddy residue on 1.35L acres in Kurukshetra district

Nitish Sharma

Advertisement

Kurukshetra, December 26

Farmers have claimed incentive for not burning paddy residue and managing it through in situ and ex situ management on around 1.35 lakh acres in Kurukshetra district.

Rs 1,000 per acre incentive

• Rs 1.9-cr incentive was given to farmers for not burning crop residue on over 18,000 acres in the district
• Rs 1,000 per acre incentive has been announced by the govt for in situ and ex situ management of paddy residue

An area of around 3 lakh acres was reportedly under paddy cultivation this year.

Last year, the department received claims for around 50,000 acres and it had given around Rs 1.9 crore as incentive to the farmers for not burning crop residue on over 18,000 acres.

To motivate farmers, the state government had announced an incentive of Rs 1,000 per acre admissible to in situ and ex situ management of paddy residue, said an official of the Agriculture Department.The incentive would be credited to the bank accounts of eligible farmers through the direct benefit transfer (DBT) scheme after physical verification by village-level committees. Deputy Director of the Agriculture Department Dr Pardeep Meel said, “The farmers have shown a good response. Last year, the incentive was only for ex situ management. This year, the government is giving incentive for in situ management as well. The incentive will be given after verification.”

“A considerable fall in the number of farm fires was registered this year. Only 300 cases of paddy residue burning were reported this year, while the number was 538 last year. We are hopeful that the number of farm fires will drop further in the coming years,” he said.

Bhartiya Kisan Union (Charuni) spokesman Prince Waraich said, “Even farmers don’t want to set the residue on fire. The areas where the incidents of farm fires were reported were those where the farmers couldn’t get machines in time. The farmers also understand that the burning of residue results in the loss of plant nutrients and organic carbon in the soil. It deteriorates the soil health.”

“A large quantity of the fertilisers remains in the residue and mixing the residue back into the soil will decrease the requirement of fertilisers. The government should increase the number of balers and other machines to help farmers in managing the residue and also increase the amount of incentive, if it wants to further improve the situation,” he added.