Possible reasons and farmers awareness towards crop residue burning: an overview and a case study from Mirzapur village of Kurukshetra district, India

Abstract

The research was carried out to identify the factors responsible for crop residue burning (CRB) and to check the awareness level among farmers regarding residual burning and it impacts on environment. For the study, self-structured questionnaire and face-to-face interview methods were adopted to generate data from 50 respondents (farmers) of the Mirzapur village in the Kurukshetra district of Haryana. Questionnaire comprises of information about the factors behind practice of crop residual burning, and its impacts on environment, soil quality, and human health. During the study period, most of the respondents (96%) in the study area practiced agricultural crop residue burning after crop harvesting. The main reason behind this practice was to prepare their land for the next crop in short time and to remove pest, weeds etc. Additional factors observed behind residual burning were non-availability of man power for manual harvesting of stubble, high cost of residues removal, and low market rates of residues. About 90% of the respondents were well aware regarding air pollution caused by residual burning however, they were unaware about specific air pollution related health problems and green house gases emissions. The farmers were also unaware about the negative impacts of residue burning on soil quality. The research concluded that the farmers had low awareness regarding CRB and its related impacts. There is a need to create awareness among farmers through gram panchayats (village societies), community based organizations, NGO's and institutions like Krishi Vigyan Kendras. The use of new technologies like happy seed harvester along with composting are also recommended to deal with the problem. The state government should formulate more effective polices after due consultation with the farmers and augmenting the capacities of farmers to manage the waste more competently rather than burning alone.

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Possible Reasons and Farmers Awareness
Towards Crop Residue Burning: an Overview and
a Case Study from Mirzapur Village of
Kurukshetra District, India
Dipti Grover, Pardeep Kaur, Hardeep Rai Sharma*
Institute of Environmental Studies, Kurukshetra University Kurukshetra, PIN 136119, Haryana, India
*E-mail: hrsharma74@yahoo.co.in, sharmahardeeprai@gmail.com, Tel.: +91-9034941121
Article history:
Received 17 July 2015
Received in revised form
27 September 2015
Accepted 28 September 2015
Available online
30 September 2015
Abstract
The research was carried out to identify the factors
responsible for crop residue burning (CRB) and to check the
awareness level among farmers regarding residual burning and
it impacts on environment. For the study, self-structured
questionnaire and face-to-face interview methods were adopted
to generate data from 50 respondents (farmers) of the Mirzapur
village in the Kurukshetra district of Haryana. Questionnaire
comprises of information about the factors behind practice of
crop residual burning, and its impacts on environment, soil
quality, and human health. During the study period, most of
the respondents (96%) in the study area practiced agricultural
crop residue burning after crop harvesting. The main reason
behind this practice was to prepare their land for the next crop
in short time and to remove pest, weeds etc. Additional factors
observed behind residual burning were non-availability of man
power for manual harvesting of stubble, high cost of residues
removal, and low market rates of residues. About 90% of the
respondents were well aware regarding air pollution caused by
residual burning however, they were unaware about specific air
pollution related health problems and green house gases
emissions. The farmers were also unaware about the negative
impacts of residue burning on soil quality. The research
concluded that the farmers had low awareness regarding CRB
and its related impacts. There is a need to create awareness
among farmers through gram panchayats (village societies),
community based organizations, NGO’s and institutions like
Krishi Vigyan Kendras. The use of new technologies like happy
seed harvester along with composting are also recommended to
deal with the problem. The state government should formulate
more effective polices after due consultation with the farmers
and augmenting the capacities of farmers to manage the waste
more competently rather than burning alone.
Keywords:
Crop residues burning,
Impacts,
Air pollution,
Health,
Farmers
Environment & We
An International
Journal of Science
& Technology
Available online at www.ewijst.org
ISSN: 0975-7112 (Print)
ISSN: 0975-7120 (Online)
Environ. We Int. J. Sci. Tech. 10 (2015) 75-85

Grover et al., / Environ. We Int. J. Sci. Tech. 10 (2015) 75-85
76
Introduction
India being an agriculture-dominant country generates about 500-550 million tons
of crop residues every year (IARI, 2012). Traditionally crop residues have numerous
competing uses such as animal feed, fodder, fuel, roof thatching, packaging and
composting. The residues of cereal crops are mainly used as cattle feed. Rice straw and
husk are used as domestic fuel or in boilers for parboiling rice. Farmers use crop residues
either themselves or sell it to landless households or intermediaries, who further sell them
to industries (Pathak et al., 2011) however, a large portion of unused crop residues, were
burnt in the fields. The practice of burning is not a new idea but started many generations
ago with the burning of grasslands. Burning is an inexpensive, labour efficient means of
removing unwanted crop residues prior to tillage or seedbed preparation. The crop
residues are subjected to open burning on account of high labour wages and anxiety of
the farmers to get the crop produce collected and marketed at the earliest. The system is
basically a man-made and perception of traditional culture that has evolved over the years
and is based mainly on strong socio-cultural traditional beliefs, confounded by the
economic status of the people. The two states namely Punjab and Haryana alone
contribute 48 % of the 13915 Gg (Giga gram=10 billion gram) rice straw surplus
produced in India and are subject to open field burning (Gadde et al., 2009).
Burning of crop residues leads to 1) release of soot particles and smoke causing
human health problems; 2) emission of greenhouse gases (GHGs) such as carbon dioxide,
methane and nitrous oxide causing global warming; 3) loss of plant nutrients such as
nitrogen (N), phosphorous (P), potassium (K) and sulphur (S); 4) adverse impacts on soil
properties and 5) wastage of valuable carbon (C) and energy rich residues. Biomass
burning is one of the significant global sources of atmospheric aerosols and trace gas
emissions, which have a major impact on climate and human health (Pandey et al., 2005;
Kharol and Badarinath, 2006).
The rice and wheat system (RWS) is one of the widely practiced cropping
systems in northern India. About 90‒95% of the rice area is used under intensive rice
wheat system in Haryana and Punjab (Gadde et al., 2009). Widespread adoption of green
revolution technologies and high yielding variety of seeds increased both, crop as well as
crop residues. In the last few decades intensive mechanization of agriculture has been
occurring and combine harvesting is one such input, particularly in the RWS where
relatively short period of time is available between rice harvesting and wheat plantation
and any delay in planting adversely affects the wheat crop. This coupled with combine
harvesting compels the farmers to burn the residue to get rid of stubble left out after the
harvest. Wheat and rice crop residues are burnt during the months of April‒May and
October‒November each year, respectively in the state of Haryana leading to impacts on
different environmental components. Therefore, the present research was carried out to
identify the factors responsible for crop residue burning and to check the awareness level
among farmers regarding residual burning and it impacts on environment.

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77
Material and methods
Study area
Haryana produces 24.7 metric ton/year (Mt/year) of cereal crop residues in India and is at
fifth position after Uttar Pradesh, Punjab, West Bengal, and Andhra Pradesh (Jain et al.,
2014). Kurukshetra district of Haryana covers 3.46% area of the state (CGWB, 2007).
Mirzapur village is situated in the Thanesar block of Kurukshetra district of the Haryana
State (Figure 1). Kurukshetra lies between latitude 29o53' to 30o15' N and longitude
76o26' to 77o04' E in the North Eastern part of Haryana State. The village is situated on
National Highway-1 (NH1) about 4.4 km far from the main City of Kurukshetra and
about 87 km distance from the state capital Chandigarh, covering an area of 1530 sq.km.
From transect walk and personnel observation from 2 years it came to notice that the
village farmers practiced crop residue burning twice in a year and also the village is
easily approachable, making it suitable site for the study. The population of the village
was about 5490, having 1046 houses and a literacy rate of 74.93 % (Population Census,
2011).
Figure 1 Map showing location of the study area (Mirzapur village)
Survey work
For the study, questionnaire survey (Annex-I), face to face interview methods and
data from secondary sources were adopted. The questionnaire was first prepared in
English and then translated to Hindi (native language) and then back to English to verify
Mirzapu
r

Grover et al., / Environ. We Int. J. Sci. Tech. 10 (2015) 75-85
78
the consistency and content of the questionnaire. As per information obtained from the
Head of the village, known as “Sarpanch” in native language, there are about 100
households engaged in farming out of which 50 % are alternatively selected for data
collection. The questionnaire comprises of information about the farmer knowledge and
practice towards CRB, factors behind practice of CRB, and its impacts on soil quality,
human health and environment. The face to face interview provides information
regarding farmer’s set of mind for crop residue burning and their awareness level for the
same. The purpose of the study was clearly explained to the study participants and their
verbal consent was obtained. Confidentiality of the collected data was strictly maintained
throughout the study period.
Results and discussion
Social demographic characteristics
Fifty farmers were selected for the study. The response rate was 94% and the
reason for not responding were their absence during the survey. All the study participants
were males, as in Indian agriculture system mainly male members are involved in field
farming and females are assisted in the related work. About 40 % of the farmers were in
the age group of 49‒58 years, while 30 % were 39‒48 years, 15 % were 29‒38 years and
5 % were of 18‒28 years and rest 10 % were above 60 years. Regarding educational
status, 14 % can read and write only, 50 % attended primary, 18 % had middle and high
school qualification, 02 % were graduate and post graduate and the rest 16 % were totally
illiterate. All the study respondents were married and 62% of them have a family size of
5 members while 36% has 6‒10 members in their family. Approximately 12 % of the
farmers were having their annual income < 1 lac (in Indian Rupees), 38% between 1‒3
lacs, 30% between 4‒5 lacs, and the rest 20% >5 lacs (Table 1).
Agricultural crop residue burning practice
Most of the respondents (96%) practice agriculture crop residue burning after every crop
harvest. In Haryana especially wheat straw is mainly used as cattle feed than rice straw
due to high silica content, therefore the residue burning is comparatively practised more
after rice harvesting. However, the rice straw is commonly used for cattle shed roof
making, for cattle bed during winter season and for making animal dung cakes houses.
The burning was mostly practiced during evening hours however, the farmers do not
know the reason behind it. A few of them shared that the spread of fire is more visible
during evening time and can be managed if goes beyond control. Only 10 % farmers
knew that CRB practice is banned in Haryana and nobody knows about any kind of
punishment or fine imposed on defaulters, which can be one of the reasons behind
residue burning. However, the Haryana State Pollution Control Board has filed cases
against 32 farmers in the special environment courts at Kurukshetra and Faridabad and
approved nine cases during 2015-16 (The Times of India, 2015). Further, lack of
awareness among farmers, CRB burning at large scale in a short period, less manpower to
vigil/control and effective implementation of rules regarding CRB could be the possible
reasons behind environmentally unacceptable practice (Table 2).

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Table 1 Social demographic characteristics of the respondents of the study area.
Factors responsible for crop residual burning
A large portion of the residues burnt mainly to clear the field for sowing of the
succeeding crop. Crop residues management problem is increasing in recent years due to
manual labour shortage, high cost of removing the crop residues by conventional
methods and use of combines for crop harvesting. The other additional factors behind
intentional burning of crop residues are pest and pasture management and soil fertility
enhancement. Residues burning provides a rapid way of controlling weeds, insects and
diseases, both by removing them directly or by altering their natural habitat (Pathak et al.,
2011). Many places in India for example in northwest the time gap between rice
harvesting and wheat sowing is only 15‒20 days. In this short duration, farmers prefer to
burn the rice straw on-farm instead of harvesting it for fodder or any other use. Further,
huge transportation cost also promotes farmers to opt the CRB (Pathak et al., 2011).
Similar findings were reported in Suquian region of the Jiangsu province of China where
the farmers were so tired in the sowing month that they are unwilling to spend the valued
time on call-back crop residue (Yang et al., 2008). The respondent’s interview revealed
that those who have cattle will not practice CRB as they need fodder for them.
Characteristics
Percentage
Age of farmers in years
18-28
05%
29-38
15%
39-48
30%
49-58
40%
> 60
10 %
Education qualification
Total Literacy rate
70%
Illiterate
16 %
Read and write only
14%
Primary
50%
Middle /high school
18%
Graduate / Post graduate
02%
Marital status
Married
100%
Family size
Small (up to 5 members)
62%
Medium (6‒10 members)
36%
Large (> 10 members)
02%
Annual income in rupees
< 1 lacs
12%
1‒3 lacs
38%
4‒5 lacs
30%
> 5 lacs
20%

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80
Table 2 Awareness level among respondents regarding crop residue burning
Sr.
No
PARTICULARS
RESPONDENTS
Yes (%)
No (%)
1.
Did you practice agricultural crop residues burning
(CRB)?
96%
4%
2.
Do CRB creates air pollution?
90%
10%
3.
Do CRB burning can cause asthma problems?
14%
86%
4.
Any respiratory problem due to CRB?
02%
98%
5.
Did you observe any visibility problem related to CRB?
72%
28%
6.
Do you know any fatal accident due to CRB?
4%
96%
7.
Do you think CRB can decrease soil organic matter /
microbial biomass?
2%
98%
8.
Do you know CRB can increase green house gases
emission?
‒
100%
9.
Did you have any benefits after CRB?
97%
3%
10.
Do you know soil fertility decreased by CRB?
96%
4%
11.
Do you know CRB practice is ban in Haryana?
90%
10%
12.
Did Panchyat give any punishment to anybody regarding
crop residue burning?
‒
100%
Impact on ambient air
About 90% of respondents were well aware regarding air pollution caused by
residue burning. However, none of them were aware regarding green house gases
emission. About 72% of the respondents reported about visibility problem after residue
burning. It is estimated that India annually emits 144719 Mg of total particulate matter
from open field burning of rice straw (Gadde et al., 2009). The heavy smog and haze in
the National Capital Delhi during winter in 2014 was also blamed due to the burning of
crop residues and vehicular emissions. The satellite images by US National Aeronautics
and Space Administration (NASA) revealed huge amounts of crop residues burning in
Punjab, Haryana and Uttar Pradesh responsible for smog and hazy weather in northern
India, especially over Delhi and the National Capital Region. The north and
northwesterly winds blows from these states towards Delhi and the NCR bring huge
amounts of soot from emissions of crop burning (Vashishtha, 2014).
Impact on soil quality
The awareness level regarding impact of CRB on soil quality was quite low in the
study area as only 2% of the respondent agreed that CRB decreases the soil organic
matter. Burning of crop residues leads to loss of plant nutrients like N, P, K and S and is

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wastage of valuable resources which could be a source of carbon, bio-active compounds,
and other soil nutrients. Heat generated from the burning of crop residues elevates soil
temperature causing death of active beneficial microbial population. Residue burning
affects soil as nutrient loss by volatilization, ash convection, runoff, wind and soil erosion
and leaching of fire-released nutrients (Schoch and Binkley, 1986). Sateesh et al., (2014)
investigated an average deterioration of 17.32 % Carbon, 12.69 % Nitrogen and 16.23 %
Potassium in wheat fields after burning residues in different villages of Madhya Pradesh.
Burning has a differential impact on soil fertility, it increases the short-term availability
of some nutrients and reduces soil acidity, but ultimately leads to loss of other nutrients
(like N and S) and organic matter (Richard 2001).
Impact on health
According to the study only 02 % farmers knew that residual burning may be
responsible for respiratory problem, about 14 % farmers quote “Asthma” as particular
disease and 4 % of the respondents informed about visibility problem and had witnessed
the fatal accidents because of burning. According to the IARI (2012) report burning of
crop residues leads to release of smoke, greenhouse gases namely carbon dioxide,
methane and nitrous oxide causing global warming and large amount of particulates
which cause adverse impacts on human health. The resulting smoke from crop residue
burning may become a health hazard as it may causes multiple and lasting effects
particularly on children's lung function (Awasthi et al., 2010) and may results in
respiratory and eye problems (Grace et al., 2003). High incidence of asthma symptoms,
lower lung function and/or more respiratory hospitalizations were reported among
populations exposed to outdoor smoke from rice straw burning in Butte County,
California, USA (Jacobs et al., 1997) and Niigata, Japan (Torigoe et al., 2000).
Policy/Government Initiative regarding crop residue burning
Time to time, the authorities in the Haryana state has warned farmers and even
pointed out that proceedings will be initiated against them for violating the ban on
burning stubble. Haryana's agriculture department is promoting the use of various
techniques like happy-seeder, turbo-seeder, shredder, bailing machine and zero-seed-
cum-fertilizer drill to facilitate in-situ management of crop residues by providing subsidy
to farmers for the purchase of machines. During harvesting time, the state government
discourage farmers from crop residue burning through newspapers. Haryana's
environment department has issued a notification under the Air (Prevention & Control of
Pollution) Act of 1981 that bans the burning of agriculture waste in open fields. The
government also issued advisory to the farmers not to burn wheat stubble as it leads to
manifold increase in the air pollution level during the harvesting season. The pollution
control board officials have been asked to keep a strict vigil and file cases against the
defaulting farmers. In recent years, the board has filed cases against 32 farmers in the
special environment courts at Kurukshetra and Faridabad. The Punjab government
recently announced a financial grant of Rs.1 crore ($157,000) and Rs.100,000 for each
district and village rid of the malaise and reward the districts and villages which curbed
the practice of straw burning (The Times of India, 2015). Being having similar

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agricultural practices and climatic conditions with Neighbouring state Punjab, the same
policy of rewarding the particular village bodies can be adopted in Haryana also.
Conclusion and recommendations
As per the study most of the farmers in the study area were practising crop residue
burning after crop harvesting. The reasons behind this practice were land preparation for
the next crop, to remove pest and weeds, less time gap between two successive crops,
non‒availability of man power for manual harvesting of stubble, high cost of residues
removal, and low market rates of residues. Regarding the awareness level farmers had
knowledge about the environmental impact of residue burning like air pollution but
unaware about green house gases emission. The study reported that most of the
respondents were facing the problems during these months but unaware about the
particular health problems like respiratory, and eye irritation related to residual burning.
Only 2% of the respondent were of the opinion that it decreases the soil organic matter
but were unaware that burning crop residues leads to loss of plant nutrients like N, P, K
and S.
The crop residues can be collected and managed properly and can be used for
conservation agriculture. Conservation agriculture offers a good promise in using these
residues for improving soil health, increasing productivity, reducing pollution and
enhancing sustainability and resilience of agriculture. The resource conserving
technologies involving no- or minimum-tillage, direct seeding, bed planting and crop
diversification with innovations in residue management are possible alternatives to the
conventional energy and input intensive agriculture. Returning of crop residues into the
soil using cropping devices and harrowing and baling straw for livestock use can be some
of the alternatives to burning. Excess straw can be sold for industrial use such as straw
particle board, and for ethanol production.
CRB is not an environmentally acceptable form of agricultural residue
management. However, if there are no options especially in case of pest and disease
affected crops residues, the farmers can take precautions to curb the environmental and
human health impacts. Farmers should never practise crop residues burning at night as
damp conditions produce more harmful smoke emissions and calmer conditions may
cause smoke retention or poor dispersal. There must be adequate fireguard and water
supply provision to control fire hazards. The burning should not be across an entire field
as a large field, stubble or windrow burn produces more smoke, whereas piled or baled
straw will burn hotter and faster and produce fewer pollutants.
There are numerous options which can be practiced such as composting,
generation of energy, production of biofuel and recycling in soil to manage the residues
in a productive manner. There is a need to create awareness among the farming
communities about the importance of crop residues in conservation agriculture for
sustainability and resilience of Indian agriculture. Community based organizations,
NGO’s and institutions like “Krishi Vigyan Kendras” must play more active role in
creating awareness among farmers to control CRB. The state government should

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83
formulate more effective polices after due consultation with the farmers and augmenting
the capacities of farmers to manage the waste more competently rather than burning
alone.
Authors' contributions: Dr. Hardeep Rai Sharma (Assistant Professor), corresponding
author, designed the research and the manuscript; Ms. Dipti Grover (Assistant
Professor), helped in designing the research and manuscript writing, supervised the data
collection and Ms. Pardeep Kaur (M. Sc. student) generated and interpretated the data.
Acknowledgements The authors would like to thank the respondents (farmers) who
participated in this research. The authors have declared no conflict of interest.
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Annexure I
Questionnaire for the assessment of awareness, practice and related factors of
Mirzapur village farmers towards crop residue burning
Village Profile
Village………………… Tehsil………………….. District…………….
Location with respect to National Highway/state Highway/ Road…………….
Agricultural Office…………………….. (since years)
Agricultural schools………………….. (since years)
Visited Households Profile
Contact Details
1. Name of the head of the family …………………………………….
2. Age…………………………………………
3. Marital Status……………………………
4. Type of family-: (a) Nuclear……….. (b) Joint…………
5. Size of Family
Small (upto 5 members)
Medium (6‒10 members)
Large (> 10 members)
6. Religion………………….
7. Monthly Income…………………..
8. Cropping pattern………………….
9. Agricultural Machines owned by the family
10. Cattle information
(a) Number………… (b) Type……….

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11. Water Source……………
Family Education
Education level
Husband
Wife
Children
Illiterate
Can read only
Can write only
Primary
Middle
High School
Graduate
Post graduate
QUESTIONS REGARDING CROP RESIDUE BURNING (CRB)
1. Did you burn crop residue?
2. At what time you burned the crop residues?
3. Do you know CRB can cause/generates?
! Air pollution: yes/ no
! Asthma problem: yes/no
! Respiratory problems: yes/ no
! Visibility problem : yes/no
! Next crop output: increase/decrease
! Accidents on roads: yes/ no
! Reduce soil fertility: yes/ no
! Texture of the soil: stony/ same /dry
! Decreased soil organic matter/ microbial biomass: yes/ no
! Increased Green House Gas Emission: yes /no
4. Why you prefer residue burning?
5. What are the benefits of crop burning?
6. What will you do after burning the crop?
7. From where you get the information regarding CRB issues?
TV ( ) Radio ( ) Panchyat ( ) Other ( )
8. Do you know CRB is ban in our country?
9. Did village Panchyat gave punishment to any one for crop residual burning? !