Why Punjab plan to stop farm fires is going up in smoke

He added that if the government is promoting ex-situ measures this year to manage paddy stubble, they should first provide more machines. “There are several farmers like me who don’t want to be blamed for pollution but what are our options? We are all ready to use this machine but it has to be available first. A baler machine collects the entire stubble from fields, and then we just need to plough the field for wheat sowing,” he said, adding, “why will we be against it when it is for our benefit?”

Dalwinder is not the only farmer in the state who has been waiting to use a baler machine.

Kashmir Singh of Mohabbatpur village in Patiala had sowed paddy on 35 acres. Since he harvested the crop in the first week of October, he was lucky to get a baler machine available. “I had just finished work on 27 acres when it started raining in Punjab and I couldn’t use the machine anymore. It’s almost a month now that I am waiting for a turn to use the machine on the remaining 8 acres. Bailing not only saves the soil and the environment but is also cost-effective. I had to pay only Rs 400 per acre as diesel cost and the baler owner gave me the cutter to chop the standing crop. The owner then came with the baler and rake and collected it all for free,” he said.

This season, Punjab’s most sought-after machine for managing stubble is the ‘baler’, which has been in the field for over a decade now but was never so popular.

However, in five years, the Punjab government could distribute only 1,268 subsidised small balers, with majority of the machines given out this year. In addition to this, there are around 600-700 private balers available on the ground.

With a focus on ex-situ measures, Punjab this year initially proposed to distribute 1,850 baler machines only to come down to a assured number of 1,300 balers. However, even after this, the state could give only 500 balers so far this year and in the past five years, Punjab distribute only 768 balers.

The state’s slow distribution of the most sought-after machine coupled with Punjab’s area under paddy accentuates the problem.

Putting numbers in perspective, Punjab grows paddy on 32 lakh hectares, including 5.96 lakh hectares under Basmati, and generates 22 million tonnes of stubble. The available baler machines of nearly 2,000 can only cover 15% of the total area under paddy or 3.3 million tonnes of stubble, thus leaving farmers, who are only interested in Ex- Situ not in in-Situ, with just two options – either join the relentless wait for a baler machine or set their fields on fire. With wheat sowing starting from November 1 and continuing till November 15, the most viable option for them is to burn stubble.

A baler machine is used once the standing stubble is chopped with cutter-cum-spreader and after it dries, a rake is used to collect it and then baler compresses into bales. While a small baler costs Rs 18 lakh, a big baler is available for Rs 1 crore. While one small baler can cover 700 acre in 40-45 days, thus managing around 17,500 quintal of stubble, a big baler can do four times more, but is yet to be distributed in the state, apart from some private players.

Jalandhar-based Mandeep Singh Kangan, who owns three baler machines, said that he has been into the job since 2014. “However, this season the demand has been so high that I am way behind schedule even after owning three balers. I am running my balers since October 1 this year, and so far, could only cover 1,500 acres. I still have pending orders for around 600 acres,” he said, adding that due to the delay, several farmers who had earlier opted for balers will shift to burning stubble as that will give them time to sow wheat.

He added that even if he uses the baler machines for just 40-45 days every year, he sells the bales to companies at a very good rate and makes a big profit. He added that a baler can collect stubble from around 15 acres in a day.

When asked about a probable solution to the problem, Dr Jaswant Singh Brar, director of Punjab Agriculture department, said that they wanted to distribute more balers, but could only distribute 500 as the manufacturers were unable to supply the same. “Another option was to import the balers but even that would have taken time,” he said. Meanwhile during a recent visit to Punjab, Vikram Sahney MP Rajya Sabha emphasized that there was a need to make the use of balers mandatory alongside combine harvesters, because the latter leaves behind one to two feet of straw stalk on paddy-growing soil. It is thus imperative that each combine harvester is supplemented with a baler to turn stubble into bales of straw that can be transported to the nearest utility for productive use. Sahney reiterated that this measure can alone solve the problem of stubble burning.

Sahney added that every year, farm fires begin in the short period between the paddy harvesting season and before wheat is sown. Shrinking of the time between these two activities, owing to climate change, has led to an increase in stubble burning which causes serious pollution in the atmosphere.

Sahney added that straw can be gainfully used in the paper and pulp industry, cement bricks manufacturing, bio-gas and bio-ethonol production. He mentioned that through this, Punjab farmers can become social entrepreneurs through productive use of straw while saving the environment.

Sahney added that Centre should seriously consider making hay balers rental free and also to incentivise sale of straw by the farmers. A cohesive approach by State and the Centre is needed to stem the necessary evil at source, together with providing MSP to alternative crops for farmers to get out of paddy-wheat circle.