Do you know what India burns every October that kills 66,000 people annually?
It’s not coal plants or vehicle exhaust (though those add to the problem).
It’s rice stubble, with 2.5 million farmers in northwest India burning an estimated 23 million metric tons of rice residue every October-November according to research published in Taylor & Francis. These seasonal fires contribute 30 to 35 percent of Delhi’s catastrophic PM2.5 pollution according to studies in PMC, with emissions from crop burning being 64 times the total annual particulate pollution from all of Delhi combined as reported by Wikipedia citing government data. And here’s the devastating irony: farmers are burning what science has proven to be a genuinely valuable resource worth billions.
Well, this is India’s stubble crisis, and the sustainable alternatives are already proven.
The Scale of What’s Being Destroyed:
Research published in the Current Agriculture Research Journal verifies that 600 to 700 million tons of crop residue are produced every year in India, of which 92 million tons are annually burned, despite the fact that 140 million tons are surplus.
According to ScienceDirect, stubble burning emits dangerous levels of greenhouse gases such as CO2, methane, carbon monoxide, and nitrogen dioxide, while also destroying soil nutrients, beneficial microflora, and the carbon-nitrogen balance that is critical to healthy soil.
Research published in Scientific Reports, analyzing data from 2,202 households in 22 districts of Punjab, revealed that although 65 percent of farmers rate stubble burning as a serious problem, there is little enforcement and that the only available alternatives are currently unaffordable for most small farmers. The Health Effects Institute estimates that 66,000 deaths per year are attributable to PM2.5 emissions from agricultural burning in India.
The Bio-Based Solutions That Actually Work:
The IARI developed an enzyme bio-decomposer in a liquid form that sprays on to residual material on the ground after harvesting. This accelerates the decomposition process of biomass residues in the field and provides an increase in soil organic carbon content while totally eliminating the practice of burning agricultural waste from the field. A study by Taylor & Francis investigating the use of Happy Seeder technology indicates that farmers save an average of $136 USD per hectare when using this method for wheat production, while there is no yield penalty for not burning residual material after harvest.
Alternative management approaches available from research provided by ScienceDirect include converting leftover biomass into biogas for electricity generation, using biomass for raw materials in pulp and paper industries, developing biochar for improving soil fertility and sequestering carbon, and producing biofuels from residual biomass. Farmers can also utilize vermicomposting to convert stubble into nutrient-rich organic fertilizers and provide additional income streams for farmers.
According to Bhartiya Krishi Anusandhan Patrika, research reveals that less than 1% of farmers follow conservation agriculture by using agricultural residue, as this method is more expensive compared to other forms of farming. But this problem can be overcome by providing subsidies and developing infrastructure.
The Problems with Stubble Burning and Why They Are Important Now?
Although INR 1,151.80 crore has been allocated for schemes to provide farmers with residue management machinery, there is still not enough support for farmers, enforcement of rules and regulations is too weak, and funding to diversify crops is inadequate. The way to solve this issue is to create economic incentives that will make bio-based materials more profitable than burning while also providing enforcement through regulations that prohibit burning.
Even though economically, burning is currently cheaper for individual farmers, but bio-decomposers, biochar, and biomass conversion create sustainable revenue while eliminating 66,000 annual deaths.
