Agriculture should be brought under MNREGA, Stubble should be turned into manure
Raipur (thestates.news) |To solve the problem of heavy pollution due to burning of stubble in national capital New Delhi every year, Chief Minister Mr. Bhupesh Baghel has suggested measures such as linking agriculture with MNREGA and conversion of stubble into organic fertilizer.
Chief Minister said that every year in the month of September-October, nearly 35 million tons of stubble is burnt in Punjab and Hariyana. There are two reasons for this- to cultivate wheat crop immediately after paddy crop, and unavailability of cheaper system to burn stubble disposable, though farmers are aware that this process adversely affects the fertility of the land and also causes severe pollution. According to a survey, burning of stubble causes increase in pollution-level of Delhi by 42-46%, making the residents of Delhi 50% more prone to diseases such as asthma, cough and other diseases. It is certainly a dangerous situation. On one side, farmers are burning an important raw material they can utilize for making organic fertilizers because of financial crisis and people of Delhi are suffering health problems due to the same. If Central Government gives instructions that through MNREGA planning this stubble should be converted into organic fertilizers instead of being burnt, then it would not only manufacture a large quantity of organic fertilizer but would also prevent pollution. 100kg of stubble can manufacture nearly 60kg pure organic fertilizer. This means nearly 35 million tons of stubble can be converted into 2 crore 10 lakh tons of organic fertilizer. This would not only improve fertility of agriculture land in Punjab and would also decrease the chances of cancer.
Labourers should be hired under MNREGA to collect stubble. Conversion of stubble into vermi-compost and fertilizer should also be supported under MNREGA. Farmers should be trained and encouraged to make fertilizer out of stubble. This will help in reducing input cost of agriculture as well as pollution. This will promote organic farming in Hariyana and Punjab. It would be difficult to stop farmers from stubble burning through rules regulations or government-administration.
Chief Minister said that cowsheds have been constructed in 2000 villages in Chhattisgarh, where conversion of stubble into organic fertilizers is being done by young rural entrepreneurs. This can be a complete solution to the stubble burning problem. Agriculture is a cyclic process, under which every by-product should be reused in some way or the other in the process of cultivation , only them farming culture can be saved and human health can be protected. MNREGA and Cowshed tradition can play an important role in this.
