Open Agricultural Burning Practice in IGP and Mitigation Anita Karki International Centre for Integrated Mountain Development Kathmandu, Nepal
Agriculture Burning Almost 90% of the field is burnt these days Allaudin Musalman Those who use combine harvester burn the remains as the combine leaves longer stalks behind Those who are in hurry to plant the second crop wheat after rice plantation burn their residue Burning is usually done in the late afternoon It is believed that Burnt residue is a good fertilizer for next harvest It kills the pests And it drives away other insects and mosquitoes
Use of tractors/combine harvester on rise 2000 tractors in Kapilbastu Municipality only, you can imagine at least a 1000 in operation each day Megnath Padhya, DDC staff A tractor 10 months both for agriculture and nonagriculture purpose It is used almost for 6 7 hours per day and uses 21 liters of diesel for agriculture work before winter They charge about 1000 rupees per hour
Why would I not use the harvester? I just used the combine for 20 minutes @ 200 Nrs This work would take me 3 5 days and if I employ people I have to pay 300 600 per day Migration, Mechanization and Agriculture Burning Migration of young people as labors results in need for mechanization The remittance money received makes it possible to buy or rent machines The need for animals to use in field is less and also due to shortage of human resource farmers are not keen on having cattle, thus use of residues as food for cattles is getting less
Manual harvesting and combine harvesting The remains that combine harvester leaves behind cannot be fed to Animals. Animals don t like these remains because of the smell of engine Is it because left over stalk is not soft like the upper part?
Rise in use of diesel pumps Around 10 million diesel pumps in Indo Gangetic plains, each working from 150 200 hours and consuming one litre of diesel per hour.
If not in the fields, as cooking fuel and fire.. The residues are mixed with cow dung to use as cooking fuel Or burnt by itself during the winter to keep warm, every household builds fire in the morning during winter
Some other use of residues:
Terai in Smoke just before winter??
Case of Punjab 2.8 million ha under HYV of ricewheat rotation Timelines of different field operations is a key element Managing heavy rice stubbles is a major problem 21 mt each year i.e. 7 8 t/ha( Hindrance in tillage & sowing) Burning of stubbles is a rapid and cheap option It causes serious threat to: Soil health Environment Human health Animal health Biodiversity Traffic
Effects on plant nutrients and environment One ton of paddy straw contains: 5.5 kg N (as organic) 2.3 kg P2O5(as organic) 25 kg K2O (readily available) 1.2 kg S (as organic) 50 70% micronutrients absorbed by rice 400 kg of Carbon It is estimated that in Punjab alone, about 125 thousand tones of N and S in the paddy residues is lost during open burning, costing >Rs. 2000 million per annum at the prevailing prices One ton of crop residue on burning releases: CO2=1515 kg CO=92 kg NO=3.83 kg SO2=0.4 kg CH4=2.7 kg Non methane (volatile organic compounds)=15.7 kg
Available Mitigation Options 1. Happy Seeder 2. Bailer 3. Paddy Straw Chopper 4. Paddy straw based Biogas plants 5. Preparation of Compost from Paddy Straw 6. Compost for Mushroom Cultivation 7. Rice straw as Mulching material 8. Industrial use for making Cardboard & papers 9. As fuel in Brick kilns
Batch fed bio mass plant at household/community level 90% rice residue and 10% dung at a time, total fed is 20 quintal per batch,produces cooking gas enough for 3 4 months (Saving 62 liters of diesel or equivalent of 3 4 LPG gas
Larger scale power plant: Malwa power plant (Muktasar) Generates 7.5 MW power Uses 70,000 metric ton of residue in a year (Currently using 50,000) Farmers do not have to pay anything to get their fields cleared Company pays 1300 per metric ton to contractors bailing and transporting residues (7 8 ton residue is collected per hectar) More than 10,000 farmers are benefitting and 40 45 thousand acres of land do not burn residue At least 30 acres of land is need to establish such plant and 50 crore investment at present
Other mitigation options Used for Mushroom plantation Difference in two yields (with and without Mulching)
Unhappy case of Happy Seeder Regarded as best option by researchers as it combines stubble mulching, sowing & fertilizer drilling operations into one machine Cuts the selected rice straw. Sows seed into the bare soil. Places the straw over the sown area as a mulch It is in the market since a decade Currently about 6 7 hundred happy seeders are in operation Adoption is slow and there are different versions Government is not doing enough (strict regulations and subsidies ) Old habits die hard, farmers are unwilling to change problem with rodents
Mitigating the Problem: Society demands cleaner air than its getting currently but is it neither a universally understood and recognized problem nor experienced similarly Choice of better air quality vs amount of resource and effort local people are willing to pay for it varies according to local preference for clean air relative to other social goals (industrialization, infrastructure, better economy and services, consumption of goods etc. )
Expectation from the media Awareness Advocacy Information on available technologies, incentives, policies etc Investigate barriers to adoption Highlight the successful initiatives and stories Accountability from the responsible authorities Make it a human right issue Include farmers stories and perspectives Do not forget to include women farmers perspectives!