4-fold rise in green solution to burning of paddy stubble

KARNAL/LUDHIANA: For the past two years, Manoj Kumar Munjial hasn’t set fire to a single straw of paddy residue in his fields sprawled over 45 acres at Taraori in Haryana’s Karnal district. Instead, the young farmer uses the straw as an input for future crops. Even as the new wheat crop grows, the old residue sits in the field enriching the soil, conserving water, nourishing the new plants and creating conditions for decreased use of fertilisers.

Welcome to the post- future.

Munjial is among a growing tribe of farmers in Haryana and Punjab who are using paddy residue for greener agriculture. The technology has existed for years. But recent improvements, say experts, have made it a more viable and scalable solution to the vexed problem of stubble-burning. It registered an estimated four-fold increase this season, which is still less than 2% of the area under rice cultivation in northwest India.

The technology in question is a combination of Happy Seeder and straw spreader (straw management system or SMS) for rice-wheat farming. Developed by Ludhiana’s Punjab Agricultural University, the Happy Seeder is a machine that sows seeds without the need to till the field or remove paddy straw. It works best when the straw is spread evenly on the field through the SMS device attached to a combine harvester.

“In two years, I have recovered my Rs 1.05 lakh investment on Happy Seeder. Apart from my own farm, I hired it out on 120 acres of other farmers’ fields this year. Last year, that figure was 80 acres. Each acre gives me a return of Rs 800-900, after deducting diesel costs for running the tractor,” Munjial said.

According to estimates by the international non-profit research body, Borlaug Institute for South Asia (BISA), the use of Happy Seeders increased almost four times this sowing season over the previous year, with an estimated 75,000 hectares coming under it in Punjab and Haryana.

“The combination of SMS and Happy Seeder is a win-win for farmers and the environment. It does away with stubble-burning while increasing farmers’ profitability and promoting climate-smart agriculture. The spinoffs are significant — lower chemical load on soil, more crop per drop, reduction in CO2 emissions, better soil health, less weeds and sturdier plants with deeper roots. These benefits are scientifically documented,” said M L Jat, a senior scientist at BISA.

Despite the strides, the technology is not catching on fast enough to make a significant dent in stubble-burning. Even after rising concerns and a crackdown on crop-burning, the area under Happy Seeders this season was just around 1.7% of the 4.3 million hectares under rice cultivation in Punjab, Haryana and west Uttar Pradesh.

Though there’s a subsidy of Rs 50,000 for SMS and Happy Seeder machines, these implements still cost over Rs 1 lakh each. Experts say these technologies, including the reversible plough (for potato and vegetable farming after rice crop), need to be further incentivised and a major push needs to come from the Centre and state governments well ahead of next year’s burning season.

Sources say the matter was discussed at the PMO committee under PM’s principal secretary Nripendra Misra earlier this month. A policy brief prepared by the National Academy of Agricultural Sciences had proposed various multiple business models for popularising Happy Seeder and SMS. These include custom hiring of the implements through agricultural cooperatives, medium farmers such as Munjial and specialised startups. Farmer unions have demanded higher subsidies and proposed that government make the implements available through local bodies and cooperatives.

“We are prepared to scale up production of Happy Seeders for the next season but we need an early and clear signal from the government,” said Joginder Singh of Kamboj Mechanical Works, one of the major producers of the machine.

Kamboj sold around 200 Happy Seeders this season, up from 100 last year. Landforce, another big producer, reported sales of 400 this year, significantly higher than the 10-15 Happy Seeders the company sold in 2016.