Govt revises crop residue management guidelines

economictimes.indiatimes.com:

paddy straw generated in Punjab, Haryana, Uttar Pradesh and Delhi. As per the revised guidelines, techno-commercial pilot projects for paddy straw supply chain will be established under the bilateral agreement between the beneficiary/aggregator and industries utilising the paddy straw, the agriculture ministry said in a statement. The beneficiary or aggregator can be farmers, rural entrepreneurs, cooperative societies of farmers, Farmer Producer Organisations (FPOs), and panchayats, it said.

According to the ministry, the move will supplement the efforts of paddy straw management through in-situ options. During the three-year tenure of the interventions, 1.5 million tonne of surplus paddy straw are expected to be collected which would otherwise have been burnt in fields. About 333 biomass collection depots of capacity 4,500 tonne will be built in Punjab, Haryana, Uttar Pradesh, and Madhya Pradesh.

Air pollution caused by stubble burning will be considerably reduced. It would also generate employment opportunities of about 9,00,000 man-days. As per the revised guidelines, the government will provide financial assistance on the capital cost of machinery and equipment.

The required working capital may be financed either by the industry and beneficiary jointly or utilising the Agriculture Infrastructure Fund (AIF), NABARD, or financial institutions by the beneficiary, it said. The land for storage of the collected paddy straw will be arranged and prepared by the beneficiary as may be guided by the end-use industry. Project proposal-based financial assistance will be extended for machines and equipment such as higher HP tractors, cutters, tedder, medium to large balers, rakers, loaders, grabbers and tele-handlers which are