The plant material or the stubbles left in the field after harvesting is known as Crop Residue. Crop residue is not the waste material as it stores a lot of nutrients like Nitrogen, Phosphorus, Potassium, Sulphur, Organic carbon etc. and if properly planned it can earn profits too. Due to lack of awareness, many farmers burn the crop residues in the field to easily get rid of the stubbles and prepare their fields for the next crop. But this is a very wrong practice

It releases gases like carbon dioxide, carbon monoxide, Methane, Nitrous oxide, Sulphur dioxide, Greenhouse gases etc. which are harmful to human health as they cause respiratory and skin diseases, these pollute the atmosphere and are a major cause of global warming. Crop residue burning reduces soil fertility as nutrients of the topsoil are lost. It kills the beneficial insects, earthworms and microorganisms of the soil. Also, the water retention capacity of the soil reduces.

Management:

Management:

Crop residues have a number of uses.

The best way is to plough the field once after harvesting and turn the straw back to the soil. In this way moisture is retained in the soil and fertility is increased. It reduces one or number of irrigations and the fertilizer requirement in the succeeding crop.

The chopper can be used to cut the stubbles into small pieces which can be mixed in the field. Sowing of next crop’s seeds can be done by using zero tillage machine or Happy seeder so that sowing can be done in the field with standing stubbles of the previous crop.

Straw can be stored in a field’s corner and used for composting. Its speed can be enhanced by adding earthworms or Trichoderma along with some urea solution or cowdung. Straw can be used for mulching to retain moisture in the soil and reduce the incidence of weeds. Straw is used as fodder for animals.

It is mixed with cottonseed cake or the mustard cake (Sarson ki Khali) and fed to the animals. Straw is also required in many industries like paper industry, packaging industry (fruits/ glasses etc.), brick kilns, biomass power plants for electricity generation, biogas production, mushroom production etc. Baler machine can be used, it is a tractor-mounted machine which cuts the straw and makes its bundles called bales. These bales are then transported easily at their place of requirement. Baler can clear the straw of one-hectare area in 10- 15 minutes. Some of the companies use their own machinery to take the straw away from farmer’s fields.

Use of machines requires financial investments for which subsidies are provided by the government of India to purchase machines like Zero till seed drill, Happy seeder, Baler, Chopper, Rotavator, Reaper etc. Farmers can contact the nearest agriculture department offices of their districts to avail the benefits.

Thank you for reading this article, we hope you clicked on the ♡ icon to like the article and also do share it with your friends and family now!