Farmers Movement Archive

Production of anti-stubble solution starts, trial from October 11: Kejriwal

New Delhi: The mass production of a bio-chemical solution to convert crop stubble into compost began at a centralised plant at Najafgarh in southwest Delhi and the first set of trials at the fields will be conducted on October 11, Delhi chief minister Arvind Kejriwal said after inspecting the site on Tuesday.The Delhi government said it has received applications from farmers for the solution to be sprayed over 1,300 acres of farmland in the city’s rural belt growing paddy (non-Basmati) varieties where stubble burning is practised. The total area under paddy cultivation in the city is around 2,000 acres (800 hectares).The solution is being prepared at a centralised plant at Najafgarh’s Kharkhari Nahar village by mixing jaggery and gram flour with bio-decomposer capsules developed by the Indian Agricultural Research Institute (IARI), Pusa.The solution once sprayed on paddy fields converts stubble into compost over a period of 20 days, which can be used to test the fields, IARI scientists say.“The entire process of creating the liquid solution and spraying it across 800 hectares of farm fields costs just Rs 20 lakh, which proves it is a cheap and effective alternative and can be adopted by neighbouring states where massive stubble burning takes place and the fumes of which travel to Delhi, contributing to air pollution in winter,” Kejriwal said.He said if the experiment is successful in Delhi, it will create a model for other states to adopt the technology. The Delhi government will make available the spray to farmers free of cost.The peak harvest season is during October-November when air pollution spikes because of a combination of stagnant weather conditions, falling temperature, local emissions and fumes from stubble burning in neighbouring states such as Haryana and Punjab.K Annapurna, head of the microbiology department at IARI, who leads the team that developed the solution, said, “It is a simple solution and besides converting stubble into compost, it will also improve the quality of farmlands. Within seven days from now, 50 litres of the liquid solution will be ready, which mixed with 1,000 litres of water can be sprayed across 2,000 acres of farms.”Delhi environment minister Gopal Rai said 1,200 farmers have registered for the scheme. Farmers can start sowing rabi crops within three days of spraying. “Though stubble burning was almost zero in Delhi, we want Delhi to become a role model for other states where stubble burning is a major issue. Stubble burning in Punjab, Haryana, Rajasthan and other states contribute nearly 45% of air pollution in Delhi. We have approached the state governments to adopt this policy,” Rai said.Farmer unions, meanwhile, raised concerns that if some varieties are harvested in mid-November, the window for sowing the rabi crop will be just about one week and spraying at that time can delay the process.Birender Dagar, president, Bhartiya Kisan Union, Delhi Pradesh, said the area under paddy cultivation is very less and burning is also not significant. He said the government should have rather focused on real issues of farmers not being able to sell their produce at mandis at the minimum support prices (MSP) fixed by the Centre.Dagar said the solution can be sprayed and tested for varieties being harvested now but for those harvested later in November. “The sowing of rabi crops begins in the first week of November. Farmers switching from paddy to rabi won’t have enough time to wait for officials to spray the solution and then wait for three more days to begin sowing. However, it is an experiment and if it’s beneficial to the fields, we will support the initiative,” Dagar said.However, Rai said that farmers can start sowing within three days of spraying and hence it will not cause them any delay.

Hindustan Times

07-10-2020

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