Context: The Delhi government will start its campaign to use the bio-decomposer solution on farmlands under its winter action plan.
Key Points

• The solution has been given free of cost to farmers who will spray it in over 4,000 acres.
• It is a move to provide an alternative to stubble burning and combat air pollution.

Bio-decomposer

• Pusa Bio-decomposer is a mix of seven fungi that produce enzymes to digest cellulose, lignin and pectin in paddy straw.
• The fungi thrive at 30-32 degree Celsius, which is the temperature prevailing when paddy is harvested and wheat is sown.
• It improves the fertility and productivity of the soil as the stubble works as manure and compost for the crops leading to lesser fertiliser consumption.

Stubble Burning

• Stubble burning is the burning of rice straw by farmers to clear fields for sowing.
• The paddy residue is not used as fodder as it’s unfit and hence farmers burn both the paddy stalk and straw close to autumn every year which is a key contributing factor of pollution causing breathing problems in the northern region.

Paddy is a Kharif (monsoon) crop.

• In Punjab and Haryana, the harvesting of paddy crop is usually done between the first week of October till October end.
• The wheat residue is used as fodder for cattle and it’s only the stalk that is set on fire.

Wheat is a Rabi (winter) crop.

• It is sown from late October to December while the harvesting usually starts from mid-April onwards.

Other measures taken to tackle the menace

• The states have put in efforts towards raising awareness of the ill effects of stubble burning.
• Farmers are being educated by the agriculture department regularly about the bad effects of burning fields which kills several crop-friendly insects and causes pollution.
• Penalties are being imposed on farmers as there’s a ban on burning the residue.
• To check stubble burning this Kharif (summer) season, the Punjab government has appointed nodal officers in villages that grow paddy.
• Crop residue management machines are being given to farmers for on-site management of straw.