Crop fires raged through all of last week: Data
NEWDELHI:CROP stubble fires have continued through last week, even peaking for a couple of days despite the Supreme Court ordering national and state governments to take action to improve air quality a week ago, shows latest satellite data.
The Supreme Court last week ordered immediate implementation of interventions to stop stubble burning in Punjab and Haryana, which was followed by Punjab chief minister Captain Amrinder Singh and Delhi chief minister Arvind Kejriwal calling for a solution to stubble burning.
“Stubble fires have continued even after the SC order. The drop in temperature combined with the calm weather led to an accumulation of pollution from various sources,” said VK Shukla, head of air quality lab, Central Pollution Control Board (CPCB).
Until November 9, wind direction was southeasterly and blew pollutants away from Delhi, which hardly felt the impact of crop fires. This week, the wind direction changed to northwesterly, bringing smoke from Punjab and Haryana to the Indogangetic plain.
Wind speed also reduced from 20 kmph till November 10 to only about 7 to 8 kmph on Tuesday, the India Meteorological Department (IMD) said.
With a change in wind direction and a gradual drop in wind speed, the contribution of crop stubble fires to Delhi’s air pollution has once again shot up.
The ministry of earth sciences’ air quality early warning system stated on Tuesday air quality was likely to deteriorate to severe + category on Thursday.
The warning says stubble burning fire points have been observed in Haryana, Punjab and neighbouring Pakistan.
The System of Air Quality and Weather Forecasting Research (Safar) at Indian Institute of Tropical Meteorology (IITM) said fires had reduced but conditions were favourable for plume intrusion(flow of pollutants in the form of vapour or smoke) for the next two days.
“What you are seeing outside is smoke. Visibility has reduced mainly due to an accumulation of pollutants. Wind direction will continue to be northwesterly and wind speed will range between 8 and 10 kmph till November 14, after which we expect winds to pick up,” Kuldeep Shrivastava, director of the Regional Weather Forecasting Centre (RWFC), said.
A study, “Connecting Crop Productivity, Residue Fires and Air Quality over Northern India”, in Nature Journal on Tuesday by scientists at the Nasa Goddard Space Flight Centre made a direct linkage between crop output, stubble fires and the rise in air pollution over Delhi. The study said rice production in Punjab had increased by 25%, and so had the vegetation index (measure for greenness that can indicate crop or vegetation cover)with a net increase of 21% between 2002 and 2016.
Post paddy harvest, fires increased by 60%, leading to nearly 43% increase in aerosol (suspension of particles) loading over the Indo-gangetic plains . Ground-level PM 2.5 concentrations showed a simultaneous uptrend of 6 µg/m3 per year, leading to 60% increase during the post-monsoon season, the study found.
Nasa’s data for 2018 had indicated that there was virtually no decline in the number of crop stubble fires last year compared to 2017 even as the Centre implemented a new policy worth ₹1,150 crore for in-situ management of crop residue. The Centre’s scheme subsidised farm straw-management machinery by 50% but high crop fire numbers this year also indicated the scheme had not made a dent.
Farmer groups such as Bharatiya Kisan Union (BKU) said very few farmers had access to the machines and that it was cheaper to burn the stubble than hiring machines from farm cooperatives for ₹1,200 to ₹1,500 per acre. Farmers had demanded a direct subsidy of ₹100 per quintal for all paddy farmers.
Following a steep spike in air pollution levels on November 2 and 3, the apex court heard the air pollution matter on November 6 and directed that all farmers be given an incentive of Rs 100 per quintal to prevent them from setting their fields on fire in preparation for the next crop, and provide them free machines to get rid of the residue. “Nobody will be spared if found violating rules.you just want to sit in your ivory towers and rule. You are not bothered and are letting the people die,” the court had said.
But even a subsidy of ₹100 per quintal has not managed to impress farmers. “The subsidy was announced very late when farmers were busy preparing their fields for wheat. Later, farmers were told it’s only for those with less than 5 acre farms. What about those who don’t own farm land and only rent it? What about farmers with slightly bigger plots? Farmers haven’t accepted the scheme so fires have continued,” said Harinder Singh Lakhowal, general secretary of the Bharatiya Kisan Union in Punjab.
Experts said the SC should consider breaking the wheatpaddy combination in Punjab and Haryana. The problem of stubble burning is acute because in paddy is harvested in October. Stubble has to be cleared and fields prepared for wheat sowing by mid-november.
“All the incentives are going to paddy. Even the ₹100 per quintal is for paddy farmers. Why will farmers move away from it to oil seeds or pulses? As long as the paddy-wheat combo continues, this problem will remain. It’s time the government encouraged and procured and incentivised other crops,” said Ramanjaneyulu GV, executive director, Centre for Sustainable Agriculture.
The amount of agricultural waste generated post-harvest is estimated to be 1.5 to 2.25 times the actual quantities of crop. Ramanjaneyulu’s analysis shows just one tonne of straw burning can release up to 3 kgs of particulate matter (PM), 1460 kgs of carbon dioxide(co2) and 199 kgs of ash. Burning stubble leads to an immediate decline in the bacterial and fungal population in the top 2.5 cm of the soil.
Repeated burning in the field permanently diminishes the bacterial population by more than 50% leading to increasing dependence of farmers on fertilisers and pesticide inputs.