Area under farm fires increases even as count dips in Punjab
As per state remote sensing centre, paddy straw was burnt over 14.88 lakh hectares till Nov 18, against last season’s 14.17 lakh hectares
CHANDIGARH : There has been an increase of 5% in the area over which paddy stubble was burnt this Kharif season, as compared to the previous season on November 18.
As per the weekly data compiled by the Ludhiana-based state remote sensing centre, as on November 18, paddy straw was burnt over 14.88 lakh hectares, against last season’s 14.17 lakh hectares on the same day.
Interestingly, even though the area has increased, the number of farm fire incidents in the current paddy harvest season has come down by 30% when compared to the last season.
As on November 21, a total of 49,526 incidents of stubble fires have been reported, which in the previous season correspondingly were 71,024. Last year, a total of 71,246 cases of stubble fire were reported by the end of the season (as on November 30, 2021).
The agriculture department attributes the increase in area to the practice of partial burning of paddy stubble adopted by farmers this season.
“A paddy harvest combine machine, which covers a 14-feet wide area, leaves behind a four feet wide track of paddy straw which the farmers prefer to burn. These long tracks led to a fall in the number of fires but there was an increase in the area,” said an officer in the agriculture department who did not wish to be named.
The officer added that most machine owners have not attached the straw management system (SMS) to their harvest machines, made mandatory by the state government, due to more fuel consumption.
“In case all the harvest machines had SMS machines, the burnt area would have also reduced as this machine shreds straw into smaller pieces and spreads it evenly on the farms,” he added.
The officials said that in the current season the number of fire incidents and the area is also expected to increase due to delayed harvest because of a late spell of rain when the crop was at the maturing stage.
As per the state agriculture department, the paddy harvest is 100% complete, and there are apprehensions that farmers, who are still sowing wheat, will burn the farm waste from the paddy harvest.
Officially the season ends on November 30.
So far in this Rabi season, wheat has been sown in 85% of the total area.
The agriculture department said wheat is expected to be sown on over 34.5 lakh hectares in the state.
“The (paddy stubble fire) cases might increase further as we will compile data at the end of this month, but it’s unlikely to cross the total area burnt in the previous season,” said an officer of the state agriculture department.
During the Kharif harvest of 2021, the total area under farm fires was 15.47 lakh hectares.
The state remote sensing centre started monitoring the farm fires on behalf of the state government on September 15.
This Kharif season there has been an increase in the area under paddy cultivation from 29.46 lakh hectares in the 2021 season to 30.84 lakh hectares this season.
Area under farm fire falls in 10 dists
Going by district-wise data, the area under farm fires this season has fallen in Amritsar, Gurdaspur, Hoshiarpur, Jalandhar, Kapurthala, Malerkotla, Patiala, Ropar, Nawanshahr and Tarn Taran districts. These districts have seen a considerable fall in the total area from about 25% to 40%.
However, an increase has been recorded in the districts of Barnala, Bathinda, Faridkot, Fatehgarh Sahib, Fazilka, Ferozpur, Ludhiana, Mansa, Moga, Muktsar, Sangrur and Mohali.
District Fazilka saw a doubling of the area burnt from 0.26 lakh hectares to 0.52 lakh hectares, and Bathinda has seen an increase of one-third area, from 0.66 lakh hectares to over 1 lakh hectares.
Mansa saw a 40% increase in farm fire area from 0.5 lakh hectares to 0.7 lakh hectares, and district Sangrur saw a 30% increase from 1.14 lakh hectares to 1.54 lakh hectares.
The home district of Punjab CM Bhagwant Mann, Sangrur, saw the largest burnt area in the state this season, followed by Ludhiana (1.2 lakh hectares), 1.09 lakh hectares each in Patiala and Ferozepur and Bathinda (1 lakh hectares).