Solution for stubble burning? Farmers in Punjab, Haryana, UP, Delhi to get new decomposer capsules; Check details

Stubble burning pollution in Delhi, North India: Union Environment Minister Prakash Javadekar has announced that Microbe-based ‘Pusa Decomposer’ capsules will be used on trial basis in Haryana, Punjab, Uttar Pradesh, and Delhi this year. ICAR-Indian Agricultural Research Institute (IARI) has developed ‘Pusa Decomposer’ capsules in order to manage paddy stubble in fields. Javadekar made the statement after holding a review meeting with ministers and officials from four NCR states and Punjab. The meeting was held to deliberate for tackling and checking air pollution in the region during winters. The air pollution situation worsens due to stubble burning, as per Indian Express report.

ICAR’s Pusa Institute has developed a decomposer. Trial of this decomposer will be done in all stubble burning states. After the trial on thousands of hectares, it will be scaled up in the next year based on results, Javadekar was quoted as saying by Indian Express.

Union Ministry officials said the trial will be done on 100 hectares of land in Punjab and Haryana, 800 hectares in Delhi, and 10,000 hectares in UP, which has been experimenting with such technology for three years.

How does Pusa Decomposer work?

The ‘Pusa Decomposer’ has the capacity to degrade paddy straws in the field and convert them into compost in a rapid manner. This does not pose any issues for the sowing of wheat crops, IARI scientists said, as per IE report.

Pusa Institute Director A K Singh has said the capsules containing seven strains of fungi. These capsules need to be mixed with water, 150 gms of jaggery and 50 gms of besan, in order to prepare a 25-litre solution and can be sprayed on 1 hectare of field. These ‘Pusa Decomposer’capsules cost Rs 300 per acre. The ‘Pusa Decomposer’ was licensed to four companies in 2019 and two in 2020.

Farmers in Punjab and Haryana usually set fire to crop residue left after harvest of paddy in order to quickly clear their fields before planting wheat crops in October and November. IARI scientists have claimed that farmers have around 20-25 days between clearing their fields of paddy straws and sowing wheat crops. The time period is enough for the decomposer solution to be effective, as per IE report.