Research article · 2024 · Full text
International Journal of Agriculture Extension and Social DevelopmentConstraints faced by farmers of Haryana in adoption of paddy straw management practices
Volume 7(9) · Pages 450–456 · DOI: 10.33545/26180723.2024.v7.i9g.1083 ↗
Research areasAgricultural Economics and PracticesLivestock Management and Performance ImprovementAgricultural Systems and Practices
Abstract
Author-writtenHaryana is one of the key contributor states in central pool of food grains with predominance of Rice-Wheat cropping system. Paddy straw burning is a very serious threat to sustainability of agriculture in the state, despite sincere efforts by agricultural development stake holders. So, authors felt to analyze the constraints faced by farmers in adoption of recommended practices for paddy straw management. The study was carried out in Fatehabad and Kaithal districts of Haryana and 15 farmers each from eight villages selected randomly. Total 120 farmers were personally interviewed to ascertain the constraints faced by them. The results highlight that partial burning of residue was most adopted ex-situ residue management practice while, zero tillage as in-situ practice among farmers. Use of combine for paddy harvesting of non-basmati and early maturing varieties result voluminous paddy straw which hampers tillage operations, narrow Paddy-Wheat sowing window were the very serious constraints faced by farmers. Soil incorporation as well bailing enhanced the cost of cultivation being high power and costly machinery-oriented practice for individual farmers and insufficient CHCs promoted by government besides straw removing and transportation of voluminous biomass were reported serious financial constraints by farmers. Similarly, no provision of assured purchase/procurement of residue by government organizations/ research institutions/ local industries from farmers field were serios marketing constraints. They faced management problems like residue composting a time-consuming practice, labour intensive as well high charges at peak season. Low economic domestic use, non-availability of small holder suitable paddy straw management technologies along with insufficient energy/bioenergy, paper, board industries in vicinity of were the major domestic constraints faced by them. The findings provide insight for addressal of these constraints by stakeholders of agriculture through active participation in organization of cluster front line demonstrations of fast decomposing biological technologies at farmers field to prove economic worth by recycling of nutrients, maintenance of soil fertility by in-situ straw management practice, sufficient functional energy, paper, board as well compost or biochar etc. industries forex-situ residue consumption, economic value enhancement may be established at local level or village level for sustainable farming in the region.
Summary
Source-checkedPlain-language reading of the full paper, prepared with AI and checked against the text. Each point links to the authors' own words.
Why it matters
- Paddy straw burning in Haryana poses a significant threat to the sustainability of the region's agriculture. View evidence ↗
- Burning crop biomass is problematic because it causes environmental pollution and leads to the loss of essential plant nutrients. View evidence ↗
- Farmers often choose to burn residues because it is perceived as an easy, inexpensive, and fast way to clear fields. View evidence ↗
The question
- The study aimed to evaluate the in-situ and ex-situ paddy straw management practices used by farmers and identify the constraints hindering their adoption. View evidence ↗
What they did
- A purposive ex-post facto research study was conducted during 2020-21 in Haryana state. View evidence ↗
- Using stratified sampling, 120 farmers (15 from each of eight randomly selected villages) were interviewed across the Fatehabad and Kaithal districts. View evidence ↗
- Data analysis was performed using frequency, percentage, mean, and rank orders. View evidence ↗
What they found
- Zero tillage was the most common in-situ management practice, adopted by 60.00% of the farmers. View evidence ↗
- Partial burning was the most frequently used ex-situ management practice, utilized by 52.50% of the farmers. View evidence ↗
- The most serious management constraint was compost making, which farmers found to be time-consuming and labor-intensive (weighted mean = 2.80). View evidence ↗
- The primary financial constraint was the increased cost of cultivation caused by high power requirements and expensive machinery for bailing and incorporation (weighted mean = 2.90). View evidence ↗
- In terms of domestic use, the most serious constraint was that paddy straw is a poor fuel at higher temperatures (weighted mean = 2.80). View evidence ↗
- The most severe marketing constraint was the lack of assured procurement or purchase of straw by government organizations, institutions, or industries (weighted mean = 3.00). View evidence ↗
What it means
- The authors recommend that the government develop infrastructure for straw procurement and establish energy, board, compost, or biochar industries to increase the economic value of the residue for farmers. View evidence ↗
Visual summary
2 visualsIllustrations explain the paper; charts are replotted from the paper's own table values.
Percentage: Partial burning vs Farm itself vs Card board industry vs Fuel or bio-fuel... vs Gaushalas
Replotted from Table 1 (page 2) of the original paper. Every bar is the paper's own table value.
View source evidence ↗
TWS: No assured procurement/... vs Basmati paddy straw is... vs Insufficient energy...
Replotted from Table 6 (page 6) of the original paper. Every bar is the paper's own table value.
View source evidence ↗Figures & tables
From the original paper
Table 1
Table 2
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Figure 5Introduction
In South Asia (India, Pakistan, Nepal, Bangladesh, and Bhutan), rice-wheat (RW) crop systems cover an area of 13 Mha (Yadvinder-Singh et al 2014) [9] . More than 85% of the RW system in South Asia is located in the Indo-Gangetic Plains (IGP). Our countrys' IGP occupies approximately 20% of the total geographical area (329 Mha) and approximately 27% of India's net cultivated area, generating about 50% of the country's total food consumption (Dhillon BS et al. 2010) [2] . Continuous rotational cultivation of rice and wheat, intensive tillage for both crops, removal of CR and high use of water and chemicals, has resulted in many adverse effects on productivity and the external environment In India. Disposal of paddy residue has turn out to be a huge problem in north-west Indian states, resulting farmers prefer to burn the residues in-situ. Paddy residue management is of utmost important as it contains plant nutrients and improves the soil-plant-atmospheric continuum. Burning biomass not only pollutes environment and results in loss of appreciable amount of plant essential nutrients.
In the National Capital Region crop residue burning have become a serious environmental pollution problem due to high mechanization of Rice-Wheat Cropping System, besides labor scarcity at peak season and less demand for paddy residue as animal fodder, a huge amount of residue is left over in the field. Management of crop residue is quite challenging due to the intensified mono-cropping system prevalence in Indo-Gangetic plains responsible for Food Security of burgeoning population. Huge production of crop produces good number of residues, it which making obstacles for the cultivators to prepare land in narrow window of sowing for the wheat crop whose yield is affected by terminal heat effects. In order to clean the field, the farmers switched to residue burning, that is easy, cheap and less time consuming (Bimbraw, 2019) [1] . Burring stubble leads to climate change, air pollution, bad soil health. To establish a sustainable agricultural system, it is crucial to recycle the nutrients from residue after harvesting. Every year India generates 500-550 million tons of crop residue, of which paddy and wheat constitute 54 and 34% www.extensionjournal.com crop residue. A good amount of residue of wheat, barley and pearl millet is used in animal feed but a large amount of paddy stubble is inflamed in the field which is very common in Indo-genetic plains such as Uttar Pradesh, Haryana, and Punjab (Van et al., 2013) [8] . But in the middle and southern part of India, viz., Maharashtra, Gujrat, Tamil Naidu, and Assam the residue is used as roof thatching, fuel for industries is also used in making bricks and in some other industrial activities (Lohan et al., 2018) [6] Burning residue on the field can minimize weed and reduce the risks of pest and plant diseases. But it has many negative impacts on our environment and all living organisms. Air pollution has the highest rank for being responsible for various diseases that lead to premature fatality, especially in developing nations. Burning of stubble increase the suspended particulate matter (SPM) and greenhouse gasses, loading of aerosol, and concentration of black carbon, NO2, and SO2 in the environment. Therefore, it is necessary to manage residue effectively and it would not affect the environment as well as soil fertility Even though the farmers are aware of the adverse effects of paddy straw burning at the farm level but they are constrained by the lack of economically viable and acceptable machineries and alternatives for disposal of paddy residues. Ex-situ alternatives for crop residue incineration alike assortment, gasification as a fuel for the boilers, transforming converting into briquettes and planning suitable harvester should be promoted. In-situ alternatives like managing crop residue by happy seeder, zero-till machine, double disc coulters, straw choppers are required for practicing and adoption of conservation agriculture (CA) in the region, which will reduce the residue burning in rice-wheat rotation (Lohan et al. 2018) [6] . Study aimed to assess in-situ and off-situ paddy straw management practices adopted by farmers and the constraints faced by them in adoption of residue management practices
Methodology
A purposive ex-post facto research study was conducted in the year 2020-21, to analyze the constraints faced by farmers in adoption of paddy straw management practices in Haryana state being as key contributor to central pool of food grains of India. Following stratified sampling technique two districts viz. Fatehabad from South -Westron zone and Kaithal from North-Easten agricultural zones of state were also selected purposively having maximum area under Paddy-wheat cropping system. Similarly, Ratia and Tohana blocks from Fatehabad while Siwan and Guhla blocks from Kaithal district were selected and at village level, two villages viz. Haroli and Hassanga from Ratia, Smain and Kanhri, from Tohana, Siwan and Malikpur from Siwan block and finally Harigarh Kingan and Kallar Majra from Gulha block were selected, randomly. Finally, 15 farmers were selected randomly from each selected village and thus total 120 farmers were interviewed to collect data to fulfill the objectives of present study with the help of a well-structured and pre tested interview schedule. The collected data was analyzed using statistical measures like mean, frequency, percentage and rank orders etc. to draw meaningful inferences.
Results and Discussion
Table 1: In-situ and off-situ paddy straw management practices adopted by farmers (n=120)
| S. No. | Name of activity | Frequency | Percentage |
|---|---|---|---|
| A. | In-situ incorporation by | ||
| Rotavator | 11 | 9.17 | |
| M B Plough | 02 | 1.67 | |
| Happy seeder | 17 | 14.16 | |
| Zero tillage | 72 | 60.00 | |
| Super seeder | 24 | 20.00 | |
| Decomposer (chemical/biological) | 0 | 0.00 | |
| B. | Ex-situ management | ||
| 1 | Partial burning | 63 | 52.50 |
| 2 | Sale through open auction in heap or per acre lump sum | ||
| Farm itself | 38 | 31.67 | |
| Card board industry | 20 | 16.67 | |
| Fuel or bio-fuel industry | 12 | 10.00 | |
| Gaushalas | 5 | 4.16 | |
| Deposited to village Panchayat | 7 | 5.83 | |
| 3 | Mulch material | 4 | 3.33 |
| 4 | Animal feed | 7 | 5.83 |
| 5 | Compost making | - | 0.00 |
| 6 | Mushroom production | - | 0.00 |
Table text extracted from the original PDF; superscript letters are shown inline. The original table image is below.
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S. No. Name of activity Frequency Percentage
A. 1 pertaining to in-situ and off-situ paddy straw management practices adopted by farmers depicts that in-situ incorporation by zero tillage was adopted by 60.00% of farmers followed by super seeder (20.00%), happy seeder (14.16%), rotavator (9.17%) and M B Plough (1.67%) while none of the respondent farmers used chemical/biological decomposer for decomposition in the field. The probable reason for maximum use of zero tillage may be proper spacing between tines as well reduction in sowing cost with partial residue, no lodging etc. benefits perceived by farmers. Farmers were concerned for wider spacing between tines in case of happy seeder and super seeder. In case of super seeder major concern of higher moisture requirement needs verified and validated by www.extensionjournal.com researchers. Partial burning was still most adopted off-situ straw management practice by 52.50% of respondent farmers followed by sale through open auction at farm itself (31.67%), card board industry (16.67%), fuel/bio-fuel industry (10.00%), deposited at village panchayat & animal feed (5.83%), Gaushalas (4.16%) followed by mulch material (3.33%). Findings are supported by past research of Ray et al. 2018 who reported 100 percent burn but this has been converted into partial burning by mechanization promotion by government through different schemes and programmes of NMSA implemented by the state. While, none of the respondent farmers adopted compost making and mushroom production practices of paddy straw management probable reason might be time consuming as well labor-intensive practice. Sale through open auction was most preferred for basmati paddy only or early non-basmati with voluminous biomass by private traders/parties specialized in delivery or supply to Gaushalas, cardboard, energy industries. [4,5] . This emphasizes organization of more cluster front line demonstrations of fast decomposing chemical/biological technologies by field functionaries and enhancing the accessibility and affordability of machinery in form of low power, single operation small and economic machinery for higher feasibility in small holder farming scenario of the region. www.extensionjournal.com 4 pertaining to financial constraints faced by farmers in adoption of paddy straw management clearly exhibits that incorporation as well bailing enhance the cost of cultivation due to high power and costly machinery was top ranked serious constraint with weighted mean 2.90 followed by high cost is involved in straw removing & transportation of voluminous mass from the field (mean score 2.80) and high labour wages (mean score 2.63). The findings get strength from past research of Roy et al. 2018 [5] . The probable reason might be due lack of small single operation machinery available in the field. And findings are in consonance with findings by Roy et al. 2018) [5] . Timely availability of conservation agriculture (CA) machinery is of utmost significance to manage the paddy residues in-situ. Collection and transportation of voluminous mass of paddy residue is cumbersome, therefore, ex-situ residue management is still not an economically viable option. (Lohan et al. 2018) [6] . 6 that no assured procurement / purchase by government organizations / institutions / industries was top ranked very serious marketing constraint by farmers with weighted mean score of 3.00 followed by basmati paddy straw is highly preferred for purchase by unorganized private parties rank second, mean score 2.90 and insufficient energy industry/ power plants, paper and board industries rank 3 rd with mean score 2.67 in the region for consumption of paddy straw. So, government should make sincere efforts for development of infrastructure for not only procurement/ purchase but also for sufficient functional energy, board as well compost or biochar industries for its consumption and economic value enhancement for increased income of farmers.
In-situ incorporation by
In-situ incorporation by
Conclusion
Zero tillage was most adopted in-situ paddy residue management practice by farmers while, partial burning of straw prevailed ex-situ management of residues followed by sale through open auction at farm itself. Use of combine for paddy harvesting led to long stubbles/high biomass load in the field, close window of sowing in wheat-paddy system and residues interfere with tillage operation were very serious technical constraints faced by farmers and no assured procurement/ purchase by government organizations/institutions/industries, a very serious marketing constraint. Soil incorporation as well bailing enhances the cost of cultivation due to high power and costly machinery and high cost incurred in straw removing & transportation of voluminous biomass from the field were very serious financial constraints encountered. They also faced problems viz. compost making being time consuming as well as labour intensive along with high labour wages as management constraints, besides paddy residue has low local economic domestic use, non-availability of suitable straw management technologies followed by insufficient energy industry/ power plants, paper and board industries in the region for consumption of paddy straw were very serious constraints faced by large number of farmers in effective and efficient management of paddy straw. Single operation Super seeder machine with wider spacing along with moisture concern of farmers may validated through on farm result demonstrations. Availability of low power single operation small and economic machinery for higher www.extensionjournal.com feasibility in small holder farming scenario of the region.
Acknowledgement
AcknowledgementI sincerely thank the scientists, seniors who kept combined efforts in writing this research article
Figures and tables from the paper
| S. No. | Constraints | Degree of seriousness | — | — | TWS | WMS | Rank order |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Very serious (3) | Serious (2) | Not serious (1) | |||||
| 1. | Use of combine harvester led to long stubbles/voluminous biomass in the field | 120 | 0 | 0 | 360 | 3.00 | I |
| 2. | Crop residues interrupt tillage operations | 120 | 0 | 0 | 360 | 3.00 | I |
| 3. | Narrow window of sowing in wheat-paddy cropping system | 120 | 0 | 0 | 360 | 3.00 | I |
| 4. | Non availability of locally suitable straw management technologies | 72 | 37 | 11 | 301 | 2.51 | IV |
| 5. | Crop residues interfere with seeding operation of next crop | 72 | 14 | 34 | 278 | 2.32 | V |
| 6. | Lack of awareness of chemical/biological decomposing technologies/products i.e. Waste decomposer/Pusa decomposer | 60 | 24 | 36 | 264 | 2.20 | VI |
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| S. No. | Constraints | Degree of seriousness | — | — | TWS | WMS | Rank order |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Very serious (3) | Serious (2) | Not serious (1) | |||||
| 1 | Compost making is time consuming as well as labour intensive process | 96 | 24 | 0 | 336 | 2.80 | I |
| 2 | Non availability of labour in peak season | 96 | 12 | 12 | 324 | 2.70 | II |
| 3 | Alternatives other than burning delay wheat sowing | 89 | 20 | 11 | 318 | 2.65 | III |
| 4 | Staking requires space in case of no farm sale/field auction sale | 83 | 12 | 25 | 298 | 2.48 | IV |
Table text extracted from the original PDF; superscript letters are shown inline. The original table image is below.
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| S. No. | Constraints | Degree of seriousness | — | — | TWS | WMS | Rank order |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Very serious (3) | Serious (2) | Not serious (1) | |||||
| 1 | Poor fuel at higher temperature | 96 | 24 | 0 | 336 | 2.80 | I |
| 2 | Paddy residue has no local economic use | 91 | 24 | 5 | 326 | 2.71 | II |
| 3 | Paddy straw is unpalatable to live stock due to its coarse nature | 72 | 24 | 24 | 288 | 2.40 | III |
| 4 | Misconception among farmers that paddy straw feeding reduces the milk yield | 60 | 12 | 48 | 252 | 2.10 | IV |
Table text extracted from the original PDF; superscript letters are shown inline. The original table image is below.
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References
2 in the original paper- Bimbraw AS. Generation and impact of crop residue and its management. Current Agriculture Research Journal. 2019;7(3):304-309.
- Dhillon BS, Kataria P, Dhillon PK. National food security vis-a-vis sustainability of agriculture in high crop productivity regions. Current Sci. 2010;98:33-36.