New Holland Agriculture, a brand of CNH Industrial, has initiated a three-year project, in partnership with the Indian Council of Agricultural Research (ICAR) and the Indian Agricultural Research Institute (IARI), which launched the initiative with the aim of helping farmers towards an eco-friendly uses of crop residue.
India generates some 620 million tons of crop residue annually, which has significant nutrient potential. The disposal of crop residue, generated in large quantities, has become a hazard as a result of on-farm burning which reduces land productivity due to its negative effects. Crop-residue burning also results in haze, leading to the outbreak of breathing ailments, particularly in northern India. The on-farm burning of crop residues has intensified in recent years as low cost and easily adaptable technologies for its handling and management are unavailable, and the window between harvesting one crop and sowing the next is extremely short.
In order to prevent the resultant pollution, this three-year project is focused on researching and developing a sustainable and economically-viable crop residue management strategy in the form of a sustainable business model.