CROP RESIDUE POWERS CEMENT PLANT IN U.P.

Adani Foundation helps farmers manage stubble.

Stubble burning is considered one of the main reasons for air pollution, especially in the northern parts of the country. As air quality dips to alarming levels, crop burning – a common practice among farmers – remains a major cause for concern. It not only causes health hazards and pollution but also leads to loss of biomass.

Usually, residue from crops is used to feed cattle, prepare fertilizer and as fuel for cooking. But collection of crop residue is a tedious and labor-intensive process. With patterns of farming changing rapidly and the window between harvesting a crop and sowing another becoming narrower, farmers find it convenient to burn the stubble to clear their fields.

In Uttar Pradesh’s Tikaria village, rice and wheat are widely grown, and the peak harvest season is between October and November. To help farmers manage crop residue, the Acc-adani Foundation, Tikaria Cement Works, started a drive.

The foundation collected data from nearby villages to learn about the local agricultural patterns and the crops grown. Samples of crop residue were examined and compared to coal; it was found that the residue could be used as fuel for the Captive Power Plant (CPP) at the Tikaria cement unit.

Once this was determined, a team from the Foundation spoke to local farmers about starting a drive aimed at effectively using crop residue collected from their fields for biomass energy supply at ACC’S Tikaria plant, which has a capacity of 15 MW. The unit was commissioned in 1998, and the plant has a total capacity of 3.9 MTPA.

Local farmers agreed to work with the team and provide them crop residue from their fields free of cost.

“Managing crop residue is a huge problem for us. Disposing stubble becomes very expensive and time consuming. We were happy that the Acc-adani Foundation is supporting us with stubble management,” said a farmer from a nearby village.

Currently, about 50 farmers are associated with this drive.

Adani Foundation is supporting the local Farmer Producer Company (FPC) as part of its CSR outreach. Foundation members working on the stubble management project said the FPC has taken the responsibility of handling the crop residue and transporting it from the fields to a designated storage area. The FPC is also responsible for shredding the stubble on a chargeable basis.

In December last, within a short span of just 15 days, FPC Annapurna Producers’ Company collected crop residue from fields measuring nearly 13 acres. The Adani Foundation is directly associated with around 350 farmers in and around Tikaria through the FPC.

The systematic collection and disposal of stubble has provided an additional source of energy for the Tikaria cement plant. In the past two years, around 74 tonnes of stubble were collected from the village and utilised in the plant.

A major part of the cost of this exercise is transporting the stubble from fields to the plant and shredding it. Usually, a shredding machine charges Rs 1,000 per day, and transportation and labour charges could come to around Rs 100 a trip, said a member of the Adani Foundation associated with the initiative.