Crop residue burning-an evil to the environment: Do we have a Biotechnological sustainable solution?

India is a country of about 1.25 billion people with more than 70% of India’s population living in rural areas and depends on agriculture for sustainability. In nature every year, very large quantities of lignocellulosic biomass are generated from various sources including forest, agricultural, agro-municipal and other wastes from food and fruit industries. Despite having a number of uses of biomass, the easiest method to manage this valuable resource is to burn it in the field itself by farmers. By virtue of which the environment has been tremendously polluted leading to several eco-societal problems. Moreover burning of the agricultural biomass residue or crop residue burning (CRB) has been identified as a major health hazard as well. Exposure of the population in the immediate vicinity to extremely high levels of particulate matter (PM) as a result of CRB makes the population quite vulnerable to many health risks.CRB has been found to be a major regional source of pollution, contributing between 12-60% of PM concentrations as per various source apportionment studies. In addition, it causes loss of vital components such as nitrogen, phosphorus, sulphur, and potassium from the topsoil layer, making the land less fertile and non-viable for agriculture in the long run (Mukerjee, 2016).

 

Therefore burning of stubbles or post-harvest residues burning has been a serious concern for the environment especially in the Indian scenario where CRB is in practice during the late and early months of the years. The problem is more persistent in terms of the crop residue burning in the region more specifically in the NCR, Haryana, and Punjab where it is an evil practice by farmers for the preparation of the field for the next rabi cropping. Burning of biomass (leaves, and other organic waste) and garbage through thousands of small fires lit for warmth, along with massive municipal solid waste (MSW) landfill site fires only add to making the air full of toxic pollutants and unfit for breathing.

 

The annual escalation of pollutants concentration in the air is leading to massive winter pollution in the region resulting in a brown hazy floating cloud round the clock. As a result of these issues, the weather patterns may change, making temperatures drop and reducing the dispersion effect of pollutants.

 

The main causes of crop residue burning are two-fold. Firstly, there is a very short window of time between the harvesting of paddy and cultivation of wheat, at the end of the Kharif season. The Kharif harvesting season begins in October. The rise in incomes and the subsequent availability of mechanical implements in Punjab and Haryana has led to increased mechanization of agriculture over the past 10-15 years. Traditionally, farm labor in these states was in the form of seasonal, migrant workers from the states of Uttar Pradesh and Bihar. Since 2005, the demand for these workers saw a reduction, and accordingly, the availability of assured income from farm labor has declined. The launch of an assured rural income scheme in the form of the NREGA further led to income opportunities in their home states. As a result, agricultural labor has become a scarce commodity in parts of Punjab and Haryana.

 

The removal of the paddy stalk that remains on the field is a labor-intensive process. With labor being unavailable and the time window for preparing the field for wheat cultivation being limited, the options that the farmer has are either investing in expensive and rarely used agricultural implements or burning the residue right on the field. Of the two, the latter is both cheaper and requires less effort. As per estimates, Punjab produces approximately 19-20 million tons of paddy straw and about 20 million tons of wheat straw. About 85-90 percent of this paddy straw is burnt in the field, and increasingly, wheat straw is also being burnt during the Rabi harvesting season. In Haryana, the problem of paddy straw burning also exists, although the scale is smaller than in Punjab. Paddy straw production is estimated at 2 million tons.

 

We need to understand why the farmers burn stubble and then deal with the basic problem. Based on the discussion it can be concluded that there are two methods to manage the biomass by the farmers: (a) To burn post-harvest residues. (b) To chop the stubbles and crop residues in the soil. The Crop residue burning was notified as an offense under the Air act of 1981, the Code of Criminal Procedure, 1973 and various appropriate acts. In addition, a penalty is being imposed on any offending farmer.

 

Our Ph.D. and PG Botany and Biotechnology students from Department of Biotechnology, MMEC, Maharishi Markandeshwar (Deemed to be University), Mullana, Ambala, Haryana, India, have been engaged to develop an eco-friendly strategy for Paddy and Wheat crop residues management. The research approach has been based on the following aspects:

 

(1) Understanding the issues associated with agricultural waste management.

(2) Identifying and assessing the management options for better utilization of bio-resources.

(3) Recommending environmentally safe techniques with reduced financial risk for crop residues utilization, management, and decomposition.

 

Based on the above facts, we anticipate that there will be an improvement in the health of soil-humus content of the agricultural fields by the management of lignocellulosic waste.

 

Also by preventing the open burning of post-harvest field crop residues, we may overcome the environmental pollution through the composting of post-harvested remainder by the application of wild fungal species. More so the management of stubbles may act as a key stone in the economic stability by reducing financial risk, stabilizing farm income and practices, imparting benefits to both growers and societies.

 

Finally, an innovative waste management technology is envisaged which would be delivered to the farmers for sustainable agriculture and environment to achieve the mission through “Lab to Land Transfer Technology”.