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The results of trials in previous years of bio-decomposers to decompose paddy stubble after the kharif harvest “are not very encouraging” and “overall decomposition was not very significant”, as per a presentation made by Punjab Pollution Control Board Member Secretary Krunesh Garg at a workshop in Chandigarh Monday.
The workshop was organised by Delhi-based organisation Climate Trends, which works on environment-related communications and capacity-building initiatives, Panjab University, and PGIMER, Chandigarh.
During the kharif season last year, bio-decomposers were used on an area of 7,000 acres, according to the presentation. In 2020-21, two bio-decomposers were evaluated at five locations “but the overall decomposition” was not significant, according to the presentation. This year, trials will be organised collectively by the Department of Agriculture and Farmers Welfare, Punjab Agricultural University, IARI and private players to “help all stakeholders to arrive at a common viewpoint regarding bio-decomposer effectiveness in the State”, it said.
After a discussion with the Delhi government, which has been spraying the decomposer on paddy stubble in the city for the past two years and has announced another round this year, the AAP government in Punjab announced last month that the decomposer would be sprayed on 5,000 acres of farmland in Punjab this year.
This year, the paddy crop has been grown on around 31.13 lakh hectares in Punjab, up from 29.61 lakh hectares in 2021, with the increase being mainly in areas under non-basmati cultivation, as per data that the Punjab PCB presented. Consequently, paddy straw generated this year is also going to be a little higher — 19.76 million tonnes compared to 18.75 million tonnes last year.
The burnt area last year was 14.17 lakh hectares, Punjab PCB’s data states, which is around 47% of total area sown with paddy. This is lower than the 17.42 lakh hectares burnt in 2020, the presentation claims.
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