Farm fires pick up in Punjab

Agriculture experts attribute the spike to burning fields by Majha farmers to make way for horticulture crops

With 119 farm fires recorded on Monday in Punjab, the state saw a jump of 66% in stubble burning activity recorded last year between September 15 to October 2.

Till October 2 (Monday), Punjab recorded 456 incidents of field fires since September 15, according to Punjab Remote Sensing Centre (PRSC) data. (HT Photo)

Till October 2 (Monday), Punjab recorded 456 incidents of field fires since September 15, according to Punjab Remote Sensing Centre (PRSC) data. Last year, in the first 17 days of the last kharif crop harvest season, a total of 275 fires were recorded in different districts of the state, data showed.

Agriculture experts attribute the spike to burning fields by Majha farmers to make way for horticulture crops after rains in September delayed the harvest of short-duration varieties of rice. Officials said after the time for sowing vegetables was pushed back due to rains, farmers in the Majha belt are burning even the waste of basmati residue to avoid losses.

The Majha belt covers the districts of Amritsar, Tarn Taran and Gurdaspur, which pegged 44% or 381 of the total cases.

In its action plan submitted to the Commission for Air Quality Management (CAQM), the Punjab government has assured to bring down paddy stubble burning this year by 50% in comparison to last year. It also plans to have six districts — Hoshiarpur, Malerkotla, Pathankot, Roopnagar, Mohali and Nawanshahr — farm fire-free.

For the seventh consecutive day on Monday, Amritsar continued to lead the witness highest number of fires when the satellite registered 71 incidents, totalling 333 cases this kharif harvest season. Tarn Taran had 10 cases, while one stubble incident was recorded from Gurdaspur.

Gurmeet Singh Buttar, director of extension education at Punjab Agricultural University, said that farm fires are largely limited to the Amritsar district where the short-duration varieties like Pusa1509 basmati and non-basmati PR (parmal) 126 are sown.

He said after harvesting rice, in September, farmers in the Majha region, particularly in Amritsar and Tarn Taran, shift to horticulture cultivation by the third week of September. But untimely rains in September delayed the harvest and farmers resorted to fire to clear fields.

“Farmers in the Majha belt are resorting to stubble burning to prepare their fields for green peas, potatoes and the new trend of cultivating french beans,” said Buttar.

Chief agriculture officer of Amritsar, Jatinder Singh Gill said the administration has started imposing environment compensation for the defaulting rice growers.

“The district administration has imposed penalty on two farmers and the process to identify the erring farmers on the basis of PRSC data is underway. We were expecting fewer fires this season but showers played a spoilsport. An area of about 35,000 hectares is used to grow vegetables where farmers complete sowing it by September 20 before they switch to wheat a little later,” said Gill.