Paddy stubble burning declines 41 % in Punjab, Haryana

Indian Council of Agricultural Research (ICAR) has said that incidents of crop residue burning have reduced by 40-45% in Haryana, 25% in western Uttar Pradesh and 14-15% in Punjab after farmers switched to happy seeder machine that helps them to earn more while also reducing air pollution.

As harvesting of kharif paddy crop may start from October in these states, ICAR is geared up to distribute over 55,000 happy seeder machines this year.

So far, 4,500 villages (covering 8 lakh hectare) in Punjab, Haryana and UP have been declared as ‘zero stubble burning’ and the number of will increase this year after distribution of this machines, said ICAR director general Trilochan Mohapatra. With the support from the states, ICAR has been demonstrating to farmers the utilities of these machines by which not only air pollution will reduce, but also income of farmers will be increased, he said.