GURGAON: More than half of all farm fires recorded in Haryana this season stem from four northern districts of the state, data from satellite imagery shows at a time when Delhi-NCR is cast in toxic haze that is now an annual winter phenomenon for the region.
Of the 680 farm fires recorded in Haryana between Sept 15 and Oct 23 this year, the highest – at 129 – were seen in Kaithal.It was followed by Kurukshetra (93), Ambala (74) and Karnal (72), according to the Indian Agricultural Research Institute (IARI).
An agriculture department official told TOI on Wednesday that 5,123 officials have been appointed and a monitoring committee was formed to keep a check on stubble burning. "These four districts consistently experience higher fire incidents each year due to their extensive cultivation of kharif crops such as paddy, maize and millet," the official said.
Govt officials had earlier said they have made arrangements for farmers to hire machines for managing paddy stubble within fields and/or selling it to industries where the crop residue can be utilised.
So far, FIRs have been registered against 93 farmers in Haryana for burning crop residues and Rs 8 lakh has been collected as fines.
Asked why farmers would still choose to set ablaze crop residues, experts said that though the govt had invested in machinery, documentation to access them could still be a deterrent for many.
"As per our research, there is substantial investment through Custom Hiring Centres (CHCs) to provide machinery for cutting stubble. However, the paperwork required to access these facilities is challenging and is generally preferred by large farm owners. Smaller and marginal farmers prefer to borrow machinery from their families, which may not be available at the desired time. So, they usually resort to stubble burning as the time window before the next cropping cycle is very limited," said Swagata Dey, a policy specialist with think-tank Center for Study of Science, Technology and Policy (CSTEP).
Another expert said stubble burning was likely to go up in the coming weeks.
"Paddy harvest will pick up in the coming days, and so will the need for clearing fields for the next round of crop. States should focus on improving accessibility and utilise 2 lakh crop residue management (CRM) machines available with CHCs and farmers. Further, apps like Punjab's Unnat Kisan help hire CRM machines smoothly," said Kurinji Kemanth, programme associate at the Council on Energy, Environment and Water (CEEW).
Kemanth said farmers across India's northern agricultural belt should be made aware of subsidies offered on baling machinery and govt should study metrics such as areas with high numbers of farm fires, procurement of straw by industries and other parameters to track progress.
"This will help assess the prevailing gaps and identify hotspot areas for immediate action to curb further fires," she added.
On Wednesday, agriculture department officials said they are focusing on 469 villages across 12 districts - Ambala, Fatehabad, Hisar, Jind, Karnal, Kurukshetra, Panipat, Rohtak, Kaithal, Yamunanagar, Sonipat and Palwal.
Of these, 67 villages are red zones, or areas recording five or more farm fires daily. "These statistics demonstrate a significant improvement from the previous year, which recorded 147 red zone villages and 582 yellow zone villages," said Darshan Singh of the agriculture department.
Data over the past few years points to progress in reducing incidents of farm fires, but not enough to improve air quality in north India. In the 2023 kharif season, Haryana recorded 2,303 active fire locations (AFL), 37% lower than fires seen in 2022 (3,661 AFLs). Farm fires were almost double in 2021 (6,997).