Haryana’s carrot-and-stick policy to curb farm fires pays off
At the core of the state’s anti-paddy stubble burning drive is a multi-pronged approach that revolves around creating awareness, providing subsidies and incentives to farmers, while not sparing those burning crop residue
As North India braces for the season of smog due to widespread paddy stubble burning, the Haryana government has activated its Action Plan-2025 that promises to choke the annual practice by farmers at the root.
After the Commission for Air Quality Management (CAQM) directive to states to eliminate crop-residue burning following the paddy harvest in October and November, top Haryana government officials say they have adopted the carrot-and-stick policy to ensure the environment is free of stubble smoke, which along with adverse meteorological conditions, such as temperature inversion and low wind speeds, traps pollutants, impacting air quality and visibility in the National Capital Region (NCR).
Farmers burn the crop residue to clear fields quickly for the next wheat crop.
According to Indian Council of Agricultural Research (ICAR) data, the number of farm fires has been on the decline in the state over the years. Last year, Haryana registered a 39% reduction in farm fires with 1,406 active fire locations (AFLs) during the peak period from September 15 to November 30 as against 2,303 fires in 2023. There were 3,661 incidents of farm fires during the 2022 kharif season against 6,987 in 2021 and 4,202 in 2020.
Multi-pronged approach
At the core of Haryana’s anti-stubble burning drive is a multi-pronged approach that revolves around creating awareness, providing subsidies and financial incentives to cultivators, while not sparing those burning crop waste.
“We have put in place effective enforcement and monitoring mechanisms to curb farm fires,” says Pankaj Agarwal, the principal secretary, agriculture. “Everyone in the agriculture department across the state is on their toes. We are taking every necessary step to meet our objective.”
The implementation of the Action Plan-2025 is being monitored by a seven-member panel headed by chief secretary Anurag Rastogi. The other members are the administrative secretary or additional chief secretary rank officers of the environment, agriculture, energy, industries and panchayat departments besides the member secretary of the Haryana State Pollution Control Board.
Top officials say that after the CAQM directed that citizens should be allowed to report stubble-burning incidents on social media platforms, the agriculture department is putting in place a mechanism for real-time reporting of farm fires by citizens who can upload photos and locations of farm fires on a dedicated government portal or mobile app.
Incentives for farmers
Officials say farmers have registered nearly 41 lakh acres under paddy, including basmati in 22 lakh acres, on Meri Fasal Mera Byora, the state government’s portal that enables them to register crops and land details to access benefits, such as minimum support price (MSP), subsidies, and crop insurance.
According to agriculture director Rajnarayan Kaushik, about ₹470 crore is likely to be directly released to 6.47 lakh farmers at the rate of ₹1,200 an acre for in-situ and ex-situ management of stubble this season.
Since 2018, the state has provided more than 1 lakh crop residue management (CRM) machines, extending a subsidy of ₹937 crore to farmers. These include 5,140 happy seeders, 7,500 shrub masters, 16,778 zero till seed drills, 32,730 super seeders, and 19,353 rotavators. Initially, farmers received an 80% subsidy on these machines but it now stands at 50%.
“To ensure the optimum utilisation of the machines, Haryana provides incentives for both in-situ and ex-situ management of residue,” Kaushik said.
The state reimburses transportation charges of ₹500 per acre, up to a maximum of ₹15,000, to gaushalas (cow shelters) that use paddy residue bales as fodder.
Farmers who give up paddy cultivation under the Mera Pani Meri Virasat scheme will receive ₹8,000 per acre this year, while those adopting the water-saving direct seeded rice (DSR) method are now entitled to ₹4,500 per acre.
Panchayats declared red zones for stubble burning can earn cash rewards of up to ₹1 lakh if they remain fire-free.
In 2023 under the skip paddy cultivation policy, payouts touched ₹25 crore at ₹7,000 per acre, covering 3.61 lakh acres. But the following year, the figure dropped sharply to ₹7 crore, as the area under non-paddy crops shrank to just 9,700 acres.
Haryana has been nudging farmers toward DSR, a less water-intensive and eco-friendly option. The state was earlier offering ₹4,000 per acre to DSR adopters and disbursed ₹70 crore in 2023 and ₹63 crore in 2024 after multiple levels of verification. This year, about 1.5 lakh acres has been identified where paddy has been sown using DSR technique.
Not problem, but resource
This year, paddy cultivation is expected to generate about 85 lakh metric tonne (LMT) crop residue. As per the action plan, 44 LMT crop residue will be managed through in-situ, 19 LMT through ex-situ techniques, and 22 LMT will be used for fodder.
Under in-situ crop residue management, harvested stalks are chopped into small pieces and incorporated into the soil.
In ex-situ management, crop residue is removed from the field and used as fodder, fuel, or industrial raw material in biomass, compressed biogas (CBG), bio-ethanol, packaging, cardboard, and related sectors.
The industrial consumption of paddy straw is expected to exceed 24 lakh MT. As per estimates, biomass power projects (both mixed-fuel and paddy straw-based) will consume 7.35 lakh MT, thermal power plants about 9 lakh MT, ethanol plants around 1 lakh MT, and compressed biogas projects under installation nearly 5.57 lakh MT. Other industries are projected to use 95,225 MT of paddy straw for boiler operations.
In 2024, biomass plants and other industries procured 7.32 lakh MT of paddy straw, including 2 lakh MT by four mixed-fuel-based projects and 4.62 lakh MT by four paddy straw-based projects. Other industries collectively procured 73,000 MT of crop residue.
To streamline logistics, control rooms have been set up at the district and block levels to regulate machine availability. Machines from early-harvesting districts, such as Yamunanagar, Ambala, Kurukshetra, and Karnal will be shifted to Sirsa, Fatehabad, Hisar, and parts of Jind and Kaithal, where harvesting starts later.
“Our focus is also on changing the farmers’ mindset,” says JS Nain, joint director, agriculture. “We are telling farmers that parali ek samasya nahin, parali ek poonji hai (Stubble is not a problem but a resource).”
Next: Cracking down on errant farmers
