A Grass-Root Revolution

Niti Aayog working on policy to end crop residue burning              

Extract :

·         Niti Aayog has floated an “ expression of interest “ inviting research institutions to conduct a study on mass production of manure / fertilizer from agricultural biomass

·         Niti Aayog will suggest potential economic uses of this agricultural biomass besides identifying an economically viable technology to convert crop waste into compost

·         According to a government estimate, over 500 million tonnes ( MT ) of agricultural straw are produced every year in the country

·         Of this, nearly 362 million tonnes ( from rice-wheat-maize-millet ) , are burnt on the farms

·         Amount of surplus crop residue is estimated at 84-141 million tonnes

The good news is that NITI Aayog is in the process of formulating a policy road-map to promote alternative use of crop residue , which causes severe air pollution in Delhi, since farmers in Punjab – Haryana – Rajasthan , resort to burning the stubble

The farmers must get rid of the stubble and get the land ready for sowing the next crop within a very short period of 15 days . Hence burning the stubble , while still in the soil , seems like the only way out

But it need not be

NITI Aayog may want to look at the following other ways and incorporate in their road-map :

[ A ]   Using a tractor-rotavator , plough the stubble back into the land so that it serves as organic fertilizer

         Details at :

        #Smog in Brain ?   …………………………………..[  10  Nov  2017  ]

 

[ B ]   Using a tractor, remove the stubble and sell it to Power Plants as supplementary fuel

      Details at :

     Amrinder Singhji has no excuse !................[ 20 Nov 2017  ]

     Thank You , Captain Amrinder Singhji….       [  19  Oct  2018  ]

 

[ C ]   Sell the removed stubble to plants for making ethanol

     Details at :

     Not a straightforward Answer !    …………….. [  03  March  2017  ]

 

[ D ]   Sell the stubble to entrepreneurs who plan to use it to convert desert lands into fertile lands

      Details at :

     Garbage is Green Gold { 3G }    ……………….. [  10  Sept  2016  ]

 

[ E ]   Make water from Air by using stubble as fuel

     Details at :

    Making Water from Air ?       ………………………. [  26  Oct  2018  ]

 

[ F ]  Sell the removed stubble to small scale factories to convert into plates / trays etc

    Details at :

From stubble to tableware: Companies turn burning problem into profitable biz

This startup can ‘bale’ Punjab out of paddy stubble crisis

BIO-LUTIONS offers sustainable packaging and disposable tableware solutions made of agricultural residues

     

Kriya Labs develops products and processes to produce affordable, high-quality and eco-friendly value added products from waste natural materials/fibres  




FOOTNOTE  :

Last year, NTPC offered to buy the stubble from farmers at Rs 5,500 per ton


Now use of straw to replace coal in power plants is possibly the least " value addition " process


Without doubt,other uses of straw described above add far more value to their respective end-products


Could the average " value addition " turn out to be as high as Rs 10,000 per ton of agricultural waste ?


At that price, what might be the " intrinsic value " of 500 million tons of our agricultural waste ?


A staggering Rs  500,000 Crore  ( 5 lakh*crore )  !


More than enough to double the income of farmers by 2022  ?

 

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12  March  2019

Rsvp :  hcp@RecruitGuru.com