Paddy Residue Management: A Need of the Hour

Vikas Sheoran; Anil Kumar Malik; Sunil Kumar; Suryapal Singh

Vikas Sheoran Department of Horticulture, CCS HAU, Hisar-125004, Haryana, India.
Anil Kumar Malik Department of Extension Education, CCS HAU, Hisar-125004, Haryana, India.
Sunil Kumar Department of Seed Science and Technology, CCS HAU, Hisar-125004, Haryana, India.
Suryapal Singh Department of Seed Science and Technology, CCS HAU, Hisar-125004, Haryana, India.

Keywords: Paddy residue, air quality, Haryana, crop residue

Abstract

India produces about 500 million tonnes (Mt) of crop residues annually. Paddy is the major crop of Punjab and Haryana states of India and is being cultivated in an area of about 300 million ha and 1.35 million ha, respectively. Paddy straw produced is not preferred as animal feed due to high silica content. Burning of paddy straw in field is a major challenge in Punjab and Haryana agriculture today as it contributes to reduced air quality and human respiratory ailments in intensive rice-production areas. Therefore, evaluation and popularization of technologies at farm level need concentrated efforts of researchers through farmers participatory approach of technology evaluation and dissemination.