Delhi to spray Pusa bio-decomposer on 5,000 acres paddy fields this year

Applications have been invited from farmers to get the decomposer sprayed. A total of 957 farmers have filled the form so far, Rai said. The spraying, as it was done in previous years, will be free for the farmers. The spraying itself will begin from the first week of October, Rai added.

Introduced in 2020, the solution was sprayed on around 3,000 acres that year, and on around 4,000 acres in 2021, Rai said.

In the past two years, the Delhi government had purchased capsules from the Indian Agricultural Research Institute that were then mixed with besan and jaggery to make a solution that would be sprayed on the fields. The process would take around eight days to prepare the solution. This year, a prepared solution is being purchased to reduce the time taken for the process, Rai said. Around 10 litres of the solution will be mixed with 200 litres of water to cover an acre of land.

In addition to the prepared solution, a powder has also been developed by the institute. The powder is being introduced on an experimental basis to facilitate transportation since transporting the solution itself can be difficult, according to Rai. The powder will be used on around 1,000 acres of land in Delhi on a trial basis this year to determine its impact.

Most of the stubble burning happens in Punjab, Haryana and Uttar Pradesh, and there is nearly no stubble burning in Delhi, Rai pointed out.

On the spraying of the decomposer in Punjab, Rai said, “It is being sprayed in Punjab on a pilot basis. The time gap is small between harvest and sowing, and scientists are saying until till the time taken for the decomposer to work is reduced, farmers may not use it on a large scale. It can take around 15 to 20 days (for the decomposer to work). Now scientists are trying to work on reducing this time period.”

The decomposer will be sprayed on around 5,000 acres of land in Punjab by the Punjab government.