Crop shift to alleviate stubble fires: CAQM

Punjab, Haryana and Uttar Pradesh, the three states that burn the most farm stubble, have proposed to shift more than 500,000 hectares where they grow non-Basmati rice to alternative crops such as maize, sugarcane and cotton, as part of a plan to minimise fires that cause an air pollution emergency in north India every winter, the Supreme Court was told.

- Abraham Thomas

NEW DELHI:

The three states' plans formed part of a report filed in the court by the Commission for Air Quality Management (CAQM), a central agency tasked with weeding out pollution in the National Capital Region (NCR).

The commission, following a series of meetings with the state authorities, collated responses from the three states to chart out an action plan ahead of the paddy sowing season that begins in Punjab every May.

Punjab, which cultivated paddy over 3.15 million hectares in 2024, generated 19.52 million tonnes of stubble that year.

Haryana, with a paddy cultivation of 1.57 million hectares that year, contributed 8.10 million tonnes of stubble residue.

Regions of Uttar Pradesh that fall within NCR generated 0.74 million tonnes of stubble over 185,000 hectares of cultivation.

The states, in the report filed on March 24, also said they will take a bunch of other measures to wean out farm fires, including eliminating stubble on site and pushing the use of stubble in industries or as animal fodder.