SHGs to help deal with paddy straw burning

Nitish Sharma

Tribune News Service

Ambala, September 16

To deal with the issue of burning of paddy straw, the Agriculture and Farmers’ Welfare Department in Ambala has come out with a pilot project, in collaboration with the Haryana State Rural Livelihoods Mission (HSRLM), for converting the straw into manure for mushroom. Self-help groups (SHGs) will be roped in for the project.

According to the Agriculture Department, the Krishi Vigyan Kendra (KVK) will train women for the project and then, the mushrooms grown will be sold to a Kurukshetra-based farm.

Speaking to The Tribune, Deputy Director Agriculture Dr Girish Nagpal said: “To curb the paddy straw-burning menace and turn it into a source of livelihood and additional income for farmers, the department is collaborating with the HSRLM in Ambala, ‘Project Vridhi’, a group of students from Delhi, who have been working in this field, and KVK. Under the project, self-help groups have been identified and the women will be trained by the students and the KVK for preparing mushroom manure from paddy straw.”

“To ensure that the women don’t have to go to find buyers for the produce, we have already contacted a Kurukshetra-based mushroom farm to buy the produce,” he added.

A Punjab-based firm has also assured the department of procuring 50,000 tonnes of paddy straw for a distillery from 145 villages of Ambala. About 4.1 lakh tonnes of paddy stubble is generated in Ambala in a year.

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