Haryana’s basmati belt fights stubble fires with manual harvesting, generates income
KARNAL: At a time when Punjab, Haryana and Delhi are choking on air pollution due to stubble burning, and different methods are being suggested to manage ‘parali’ (paddy straw), hundreds of farmers in the basmati-growing belt of Haryana have opted for manual harvesting that has not only helped control farm fires but also generate additional income for farmers and jobs for labourers.
With most of the farmers growing the premium paddy variety in the basmati belt and preferring the traditional harvesting method, the area in the state spread over 400 villages in Nilokheri, Nissing and Assandh blocks of Karnal district; Pehowa and Thanesar blocks in Kurukshetra district; Dhand, Pundri and Rajaund blocks of Kaithal district; has witnessed negligible incidents of stubble burning.
According to farmers, those growing the aromatic longgrain basmati rice earn around ₹ 9,000-10,000 per acre extra from the crop waste as there are 30 units set up in different locations by private buyers to purchase the residue.
Earning from crop waste
Aman Kashyap, 27-year-old parali trader from Nigdhu village of Karnal said that he was purchasing paddy straw from farmers at ₹ 400 per quintal and selling the paddy straw fodder to the local dairy farmers and gaushalas at ₹ 600 to ₹ 700 per quintal, thus earning a profit of more than ₹ 100 per quintal after spending on transportation, labour and other expenses.
Ravi Kumar, an employee at Rana farm, which also deals in paddy residue, said that this year, the prices of basmati parali doubled.
Last year, they purchased parali at ₹ 200 to ₹ 250 per quintal and now they are paying ₹ 450 to buy it.
“But it does not have any impact on our earnings as there is a huge demand of chopped straw in the local market,” he said.
‘Parali’ is also used by sculptors of Rajasthan and Gujarat to wrap idols to avoid any damage to them during transportation.
Manual harvesting key to fight farm fires
According to agriculture experts, there is a spike in the incidents of farm fires since farmers shifted to combine harvesters from the traditional manual harvesting.
“There is no burning of crop waste when the crop is harvested manually, as this is the best way to manage crop waste and now there is also a market for it,” said a basmati grower Raghubir Singh of Karnal’s Yunispur village.
Another farmer Raj Kumar from Sakra village in Kaithal district said, “there is a huge demand of basmati parali. That is why we pay ₹ 6,000 to ₹ 7,000 per acre on manual harvesting and sell parali at ₹ 10000 per acre”.
The farmers said that the manual harvesting also generate jobs for locals and migrant labourers as a group of 10 -12 people can harvest one acre of paddy in one day and they can easily earn ₹ 500 to ₹ 600 per person while working in their village.