The Uttar Pradesh government has undertaken comprehensive measures to curb incidents of stubble burning after harvesting of paddy crops in winters. The government plans to distribute free bio-decomposers to farmers, providing them agricultural equipment for effective crop residue management and launching a large-scale awareness campaign against the practice in the state.
The presentation of the Agriculture department regarding stubble management before the chief secretary highlighted that a 50% subsidy was being provided on single agricultural equipment. Besides, 44,363 single agricultural equipment have been distributed to farmers so far.
The state government has approved a total of 4,439 single agricultural equipment in the year 2023-24. Additionally, a total of 7,621 forms have been distributed among the FPO cooperative societies and gram panchayats, out of which approval has been granted for 296 forms in 2023-24.
In 2022-23, as many as 13,22,250 bio-decomposers were distributed, while the target for 2023-24 is to distribute 17 lakh bio-decomposers. As of now, 1,66,600 bio-decomposers are in the process of being supplied to farmers in the year 2023-24.
Furthermore, effective coordination among officials in various departments at the district level, such as Sugarcane, Basic Education, Revenue, Rural Development, Panchayati Raj, Local Bodies, Police, and Transportation, will be ensured.
Dissemination of information about stubble utilisation will be facilitated by promoting units based on crop residue in the neighbouring districts. Task forces are being formed at the village, nyaya panchayat, development block, tehsil, and district levels in this regard.