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Crop residue burning goes unabated
Subodh Bhasin. Dated: 5/21/2019 11:05:59 AM
Subodh Bhasin
Jammu, May 20
As the harvest of Rabi crop is going on, stubble burning in several rural areas goes unchecked and the authorities have turned blind eye towards this practice keeping in view its harmful effect on environment.
Despite the fact that open-field burning of agricultural remains a major source of air pollution owing to its after effect, the stubble of crop on large scale of farming land is extensively burnt by farmers to clear their fields for next Kharif Crop
It is pertinent to mention here that stubble burning is a common practice followed by farmers and even though farmers are aware that the burning of straw is harmful to health, they do not have alternatives for utilizing them effectively. Farmers believe that with the monsoon likely to hit J&K in the last week of June, they are making preparations for the upcoming season.
The main reason for burning of stubble is due to the use of harvester machines in the state farmers are resorting to burning a large quantities of straw left behind by modern machines as there is no alternative left behind to clear the fields for next crop Talking to Young Bites correspondent Ajeet Singh a farmer from RS Pura said that we are resorting to burning of residue as there is no other way to dispose the left over, although we are aware of its after effects to the fields as well as to the environment. What else we can do he questioned?
Experts opined that stubble burning is one of the key sources responsible for the severe air pollution levels and with less income due to crop damage, farmers are likely to be inclined to light up their fields to cut costs and not spend on scientific ways of stubble management.
Some of the agricultural experts say that government should make easily accessible technical measures, including diversified uses of crop residue, capacity building and training along with formulation of suitable legislation, to deal with the issue of disposing of stubble.
Wheat is the staple food in the plains and much of the production is concentrated in Jammu, Kathua, Udhampur and Rajouri districts.