Stubble burning down by 27%; Bumper Paddy Harvest Despite Floods

The Union Environment Ministry said on 6 Dec that compared to last year, this year stubble burning in Panjab and Haryana declined by 27% and 37% respectively. From 83,002 fires in 2020, the count in Panjab dropped to 71,304 in 2021, 49,922 in 2022, and further to 36,663 in 2023. When compared to 2022, there was a 27% reduction in farm fires in 2023. The reduction was even higher, standing at 49% and 56%, respectively, when compared to 2021 and 2020. The data showed in 2023, Panjab had only four days where fires exceeded 2,000 counts, down from 16 in 2020, 14 in 2021, and 10 in 2022. This is a clear indication that farmers are cooperating, and the government is not (SDW Vol.1 Issue 4, Story 6). Despite this, three weeks after paddy has been harvested and wheat sowed, Delhi AQI is around 400. On the other hand, despite seven districts of Panjab being flooded thrice in July and August this year, Panjab is expecting a bumper output of paddy crop in 2023-24. The state is expecting paddy output to cross 20.5M MT with average yield going up by more than four quintal per hectare as compared to last year. One of the reasons for the high crop yield is that after the repeated floods, Haryana and Panjab farmers helped each other resow seedlings on more than one lakh hectares of land. Farmers also took to PR-126 and PUSA Basmati 1509, both short duration paddy varieties.