The Indian Agricultural Research Institute (IARI) data on paddy stubble burning showed that Punjab and Haryana have recorded a significant increase in farm fires after the withdrawal of the monsoon season from north India, though the situation so far is better than last year.
Between September 15 and October 10, Punjab recorded 764 incidents of crop residue burning in 2021 compared to 2,586 in the corresponding period last year, almost 80 percent drop in the paddy burning incident.
The detection of stubble burning by satellites was hampered due to scattered clouds over Uttar Pradesh and Madhya Pradesh states.
Haryana has recorded 196 farm fires so far against 353 logged during the period last year. The data shows the number of farm fires remained considerably low till October 6, when the southwest monsoon started withdrawing from northwest India.
Punjab recorded only 63 stubble burning incidents from October 1 to October 5 as compared to 486 cases from October 6 to October 10. Similarly, Haryana recorded 17 such events from October 1 to October 5 compared to 172 cases from October 6 to October 10, the IARI data showed. Though stubble burning has increased since October 6, the daily number is still low as compared to 2020.
Vinay Sehgal, a scientist at IARI, said the number of farm fires remained low till the first week of October because of the delayed paddy harvesting on account of an extended monsoon season. “Even the farmers who had harvested their produce could not burn the straw because it was wet,” he said, citing reports from the ground.
Sehgal said the IARI expects that there will be lesser farm fires this season compared to last year as Governments are more conscious about stubble management this time.
Punjab had recorded 1.02 lakh incidents of stubble burning in 2016. The number decreased to 67,079 in 2017; 59,684 in 2018 and 50,738 in 2019 from October 1 to November 30. The state logged 79,093 such incidents last year, according to the IARI. Haryana saw 15,686 farm fires in 2016; 13,085 in 2017; 9,225 in 2018; 6,364 in 2019 and 5,678 in 2020.
Punjab and Haryana attract attention during the paddy harvesting season in October and November.