◊ By Harpreet Singh Grewal
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There are multiple ways to take care of paddy stubble, which don’t require burning.
1] Mechanical shredding by combined harvester at the time of harvest or after harvest.
2] Use a Happy Seeder to make mulch. The Happy Seeder is a tractor that cuts rice straw, sows wheat into the soil, and distributes the straw over the sown area as mulch.
3] Use a Super Seeder, a machine that is a combination of a rotary tiller and a seed planter, with press wheels. It’s used for planting seeds and for removing stubble and roots of paddy, sugarcane, cotton, maize, etc.
4] Baling after harvesting—form small cube-shaped bales, round small bales, or big round bales.
5] Spread the paddy evenly on the field, broadcast wheat seed, spray bacteria or waste decomposers and irrigate the field. The sowing is done!
There are some operations to be take care of post bailing:
Collection and storage. After proper storage, one can keep the bales up to June or till the rainy season starts. We can make pallets for animal feed or make TMR (Total Milk Ration) bricks. Pallets can also be used for gasification, or briquettes can also be made for gasification.
Further, paddy straw is an excellent base for mushrooms since it is a rich source of nitrogen. One can produce organic seasonal mushrooms using straw without the help of any temperature controls.
PADDY STRAW IS A BOON, NOT A CURSE. When we execute gasification of the same, we get the following:
1] Syngas (approximately 60%).
2] Bio oil.
3] Biochar (silica-based).
4] Thermal heat, which can help run a thermal cold storage of up to -25°C; or can be used for thermoelectric generation; to make dryers; or to heat homes or any other premises.
The government should facilitate all of the abovementioned vistas to claim carbon credits.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
The author has been an organic farmer for 30 years and owns the Sirsa, Haryana-based organic farm, Heavenly Farms, as well as, its eponymous organic food brand, which sells organic products to Delhi NCR through its portal, www.heavenlyfarms.in
Paddy straw management is need of the hour to save earth from pollution
In times when stubble burning has taken on acutely political tones, it is heartening to read about such a pragmatic approach to this “burning” issue, which will also be a friend to the environment.