New Delhi: A senior Indian Council of Agricultural Research (ICAR) scientist said better soil health and management will provide stubble-burning solutions.
Talking about the comprehensive solution for the stubble burning issue, Dr SK Chaudhari, Deputy Director General, National Resource Management, ICAR said, "If we want to deal with the stubble burning issue then we have to work collectively. Single way like spraying, providing machines or making laws will not help to stop it but we have to work in a collective manner and use all these aspects simultaneously to stop stubble burning."
Describing damages due to paddy residue burning, Chaudhari informed, “One tonne of stubble burnt leads to damage of 12 to 13 kg of phosphorus, 30 to 32 kg of potassium, and 20 kg of nitrogen in the soil.”
Sustainable soil management will help to convert residue into manure which saves soil nutrient values to maintain soil values. "Stubble burning not only pollutes the air but it damages soil nutrient values. It creates an imbalance in the soil so we have to follow collective work to stop stubble burning to get a solution," the DDG added.
"As per 2023 data, around 90 per cent of nitrogen, phosphorus, and 50 per cent of potassium deficiency are noticed in the soil. The government is working on soil health to improve the situation. Now the situation is improving gradually," he said.
The ICAR said by shifting perceptions of soil from a mere agricultural input to a dynamic, multifunctional resource, the scientists seek to catalyse a global movement that values soil for its broader environmental, economic, and social contributions.
ICAR scientists recently said stubble burning monitoring by using satellite remote sensing technology and mapping of the active fire events in real-time helps to get the actual data of these cases, which proves useful for northern Indian states and several departments to deal with this issue and prepare a further policy on it.
According to ICAR- Indian Agricultural Research Institute data, a total of 19,067 burning events were detected in the six states between September 15 and November 12 which are distributed as 7112, 1020, 2034,12, 1782 and 7107 in Punjab, Haryana, Uttar Pradesh, Delhi, Rajasthan and Madhya Pradesh, respectively.
