Management of Crop-Residue to Control Environmental Hazards

Abstract

India is one of the leading countries in production of crops such as wheat, rice, sugarcane andmany more. It also generates a large amount of agricultural waste [including crop residue].Waste materials derived from various agricultural activities are defined as agricultural wastesincluding crop residues. Due to high amount of crop residues, it becomes difficult for thefarmers to dump that waste. Farmers generally gather crop residues and burn them in the fields.Crop residues burning is a common post-harvest practice in many parts of the world mainlydeveloping countries to eliminate waste after harvesting. This practice mostly carried out inPunjab, Haryana, and Uttar Pradesh responsible solely to the worst winter pollution in the cityof Delhi.Crop burning contributes to atmospheric pollution leading to the environment degradationphenomena such as air pollution, global warming, smog, and climate change. Large amounts oftoxic pollutants like methane, carbon dioxide, carbon monoxide, nitrous oxide, sulphur dioxideand submicron aerosols released in the atmosphere. After their release in the atmosphere, thesepollutants disperse in the surrounding, form a thick blanket of smog causing adverse effect onhuman health. Crop residue burning destroys the nutrients in the soil, making it less fertile,leading to loss of moisture and useful microbes present in the upper layer of the soil. Due to theloss of friendly pests, there is a tremendous increase in enemy pests making crops more proneto diseases. The government of India has attempted to curtail this problem by enforcing variouslaws and imposing penalty on any offending farmer. However, governments implementationlacks strength. Now the time has come that integral approach should be started to spreadawareness on scientific crop residue management.