Punjab Government on Monday claimed that stubble burning has reduced as much as 50 per cent this year in 14 out of 22 districts in the state.
KS Pannu, Punjab Secretary, Agriculture & Soil Conservation and Environment & Climate Change, while speaking at a conference on ‘Stubble Burning: Viable and Sustainable Solutions’ as part of CII Agro Tech India 2018, said that the issue would be solved 90 per cent next year.
He said that stubble burning has reduced by as much as 50 per cent this year in 14 of 22 districts in Punjab, mainly in Majha and Doaba, said Shri
“In Punjab, we have used super straw management (SMS). The system needs to be attached to a combine harvester. The farmers were offered 50 per cent subsidy for using this system and the SMS in now in use in 5,000 of 7,500 combine harvesters in the state,” informed Pannu.
He also said that the government also worked hard to create awareness of the issue among farmers, using social media as well as through one-on-one interactions.
Notably, Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal had last month accused the Punjab Government of failing to control stubble burning that deteriorated the air quality in the national capital.
During a visit to Chandigarh last month, Kejriwal, while showing satellite images of stubble burning to justify his claims had said that the incidents of stubble burning are more in Punjab this year than in Haryana.
Punjab Chief Minister Captain Amarinder Singh had however ridiculed the claim of his Delhi counterpart Arvind Kejriwal.
Meanwhile, Pannu shared that a German organisation has evinced interest for making Bio-CNG from straw in Punjab.
He also mentioned that from November 15 this year, the state had already started a survey of farmers to know about the reason for not adopting the machines that could reduce the problem of stubble burning. Based on the response, the State Government will devise its strategy for the next year, he said.
Pannu also clarified that the reduction in paddy yield and the higher moisture content in paddy had no relation with the delayed sowing. Punjab Agricultural University (PAU) has published a paper which concludes that rainfall has led to such problems, he explained.
“With 4 million tonne of paddy residue in the soil, wheat productivity is bound to increase next year. Pesticide use should also drop by around 30 per cent,” remarked Pannu, adding that Punjab Government along with the farmers is working hard to ensure that the problem vanishes from the state at the earliest.