04 November 2024, Chandigarh: The Haryana Govt claims that it has achieved a 29% reduction in stubble-burning incidents compared to the previous year. Stating this, a government spokesperson said that the Haryana government is taking significant steps for crop residue management in the state. Following the directives of Chief Minister Nayab Singh Saini, a state-specific scheme has been implemented. This initiative provides financial assistance to farmers for crop residue management while setting zero-burning targets for panchayats to curb stubble-burning incidents. As a result of these efforts, there have been a total of 713 recorded incidents of stubble burning by ICAR this year, marking a 29 percent reduction compared to last year.
The government spokesperson said that burning paddy stubble after harvest not only contributes to air pollution but also diminishes soil fertility and adversely affects farmers’ health. Consequently, the government is actively raising awareness among farmers at the village level about the importance of not burning stubble. Thanks to these initiatives, 83,070 farmers have registered to manage 7.11 lakh acres of paddy area as of October 28, 2024. The registration deadline is November 30, 2024. An official release informed that an Incentive amount of Rs 223 crore has been given to farmers from the year 2020-21 to 2023-24. The spokesperson stated that the government is providing subsidized crop management equipment to farmers for both in-situ and ex-situ management. From 2018-19 to 2024-25, a total of 1,00,882 crop residue management machines have been made available to farmers at a subsidy of 50 to 80 percent. This year, farmers have purchased 9,844 machines.
Last week, a farmer awareness program was organized in the surrounding villages by the Krishi Vigyan Kendra Ambala of Chaudhary Charan Singh Haryana Agricultural University, Hisar. Agricultural scientist Dr. Devendra Chahal advised the farmers of the village not to burn crop residues. Farmers should give as much importance to crop residues as they consider the crop economically useful.
Dr. Chahal said that crop residues help in maintaining the fertility of the soil, due to which the quality of the produce also improves. Therefore, farmers should make full use of whatever machinery is available to mix these crop residues in the field. Super-seeder is also one of these machines, using which farmers can press the residues of paddy crop well in the fields and also sow wheat. Nowadays, it costs about two to two and a half thousand rupees to sow wheat on one acre with a super-seeder. Along with crop residue management, wheat sowing is also done very well, along with this, the farmer’s time is also saved and early sowing is done.
The government spokesperson further added that the farmers are being given an incentive of Rs1,000 per acre for managing paddy crop residues. In addition, an incentive of Rs 7,000 per acre is provided for adopting alternative crops in paddy areas under the Mera Pani-Meri Virasat Yojana. This year, 33,712 farmers have registered for crop diversification, opting for other crops instead of paddy on 66,181 acres. From 2020-21 to 2023-24, incentives worth Rs 223 crore have been disbursed to farmers.
The spokesperson also mentioned that the government is offering an incentive of Rs 4,000 per acre for adopting Direct Seeding of Rice (DSR) technology. Furthermore, Gaushalas are also being given an incentive of a maximum of Rs 15,000 as transportation charges of bales at the rate of Rs 500 per acre. Various industries are being established near villages to utilize stubble, allowing farmers to generate additional income instead of resorting to burning it.
The state government has decided that red zone panchayats will be given an incentive of Rs 1 lakh for achieving a zero burning target.
The spokesperson said that the government has categorized villages into red, yellow, and green zones based on the incidents of paddy stubble burning in the previous year. Panchayats in the red and yellow zones will receive incentives from the government to reduce stubble-burning incidents. Red zone panchayats will be awarded an incentive of Rs 1 lakh, while yellow zone panchayats will receive Rs 50,000 for achieving zero burning targets.
He said that despite the government’s efforts and incentives to prevent stubble burning, strict action has been taken against law violators. So far, a total of 334 challans have been issued, and fines amounting to Rs 8.45 lakh have been recovered from farmers. In addition, 418 ‘red entries’ have been recorded in the field records of these farmers, and police cases have been registered against 192 farmers.
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