Grappling with the menace of stubble burning, the government is aggressively pushing power plants to use at least 10 per cent of paddy stubble as fuel in state-run power plants. However, big farm equipment manufacturers say much more needs to be done to solve the problem as the total paddy straw produced is much more than the total capacity of power plants in the northern states.
Currently, Punjab and Haryana together have 250-odd mechanised balers, which convert paddy straw into biomass, ready for use by power plants.
In mechanised harvesting, the entire stubble doesn't get uprooted which leaves the farmer with little option but to burn them if he wants to clear his field fast for the new crop.
To solve the stubble burning concern, the government recently directed state-owned NTPC to blend 10 per cent of stubble in their fuel mix.
NTPC would float a tender to buy farm stubble at Rs 5,500 per tonne for power plants, which could help farmers earn around Rs 11,000 per acre from the sale of stubble/straw pellets, officials said.
However, big farm equipment manufacturers said that this model will be economically viable only if contractors who run the expensive mechanised cutters, rakers and balers get adequate economic value for the paddy stubble bales or else no contractor will be interested to produce biomass from paddy stubble.
The transportation cost of compressed paddy stubble is also very high as power plants need to be located within a 15-20 km radius of fields, industry players said.
Typically, for converting paddy stubble into bales fit for use by power plants, three machines are required to be attached to a normal tractor. These are a cutter, a rake and a baler.
Though the price of all these varies from company to company, a fair average quality of the three equipment comes around Rs 16-17 lakh without the tractors. Though there are cheaper local varieties of balers available in the market.
"Unless the biomass gets a financial return of over Rs 1,350 per tonne bare minimum price, it is not viable for the contractors to operate the expensive machines," Himanshu Saini, Product Marketing Manager CLAAS Agricultural Machinery Pvt Ltd told Business Standard.
NTPC has promised a price of Rs 5,500 per tonne for the paddy straw or stubble.
Nonetheless, companies are exploring this business opportunity.
New Holland Agriculture another multinational farm equipment company is showcasing its range of products for crop-residue and stubble burning that includes bailers, rake, mulcher and tractor for straw management.