No other option: Farmers justify stubble burning

Tribune News Service

Manav Mander

Ludhiana, October 27

It’s not that farmers are not aware of the harmful effects of stubble burning, the primary reason for burning stubble according to them is the lack of better options. The majority of them cite short window period between paddy and wheat, high cost of crop residue machines, technical issues in working of these machines, delaying of wheat sowing leading to less yield as major reasons which push them towards burning the stubble.

Ludhiana district has witnessed 165 farm fires till now and the air quality index in Ludhiana at 7 pm today was 150.

The Tribune team today witnessed incidents of stubble burning around Jagraon and Pakhowal in Ludhiana district and also talked to the farmers about the reasons for adopting this method.

Covering his face with cloth and water dripping from his eyes, a farmer from village Pamal near Laloton Kalan was busy burning stubble in his farm.

“I do not have resources to buy costly machines and we have no other option but to burn the stubble,” he said before walking away into thick smog.

At Agwar Rahlan village in Jagraon, another field was on fire. Migrant labour was hurriedly seen putting the stubble to fire.

Gagandeep, a landlord, said his pocket does not allow him to buy costly machines. “I am ready for the ex-situ method and want the stubble to be lifted from my field but not even a single baler machine is available nearby for the same. I have only two acres of land and I cannot think about spending lakhs on crop residue management machine,” he said.

Elaborating further he said, “Machines like happy seeder need tractor of at least 50 horsepower and since I have small land, my tractor is small.”

Further asked about taking machine on rent another farmer from the same village said, “The machine on an average works on 5-6 acre in a day. Farmer who owns the machine will first sow his own land and if it will take 8-10 days for him, other farmer will not wait this long as late sowing of wheat means less yield,” he added.

Kulwinder Singh from Bir Gagra village is making his field ready for potato crop. “It is only on four acres that I burnt the stubble as I want to make the field ready for the potato crop and happy seeder and other machines don’t serve the purpose for that. On the remaining land I will be sowing wheat and I have contacted one baler machine and will be giving Rs 1,600 per acre for picking up the rolled stubble,” he said.

“The government has failed to provide support to the farmers. Machines should be provided to the farmers as they are used only once a year. If small farmers start buying machines, all their investment will go into this and in addition to this, the labour and diesel are also costly,” he said.

He further added that he has yet not received Rs 1,500 per acre subsidy for direct seeding of rice. “I applied for various subsidies for agriculture appliances but none has been accepted. It is very difficult to work in present times when prices of everything are skyrocketing and government is also not extending a helping hand towards farmers,” he added.

In Ludhiana district, 1,660 crop residue machines stand sanctioned as per budget while 952 machines have been delivered in field by the Agriculture Department.

To date, a total of 165 cases have been reported out of which 85 cases have been reported from Jagraon, 35 from Samrala, 18 from Raikot, 11 from Ludhiana West, 10 from Ludhiana East, five from Payal and one from Khanna.

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#Environment #Farm Fires #Pollution #Stubble Burning