Punjab farmers strike gold selling stubble bales
farmers are now making money out of stubble, a much maligned farming byproduct that is otherwise doomed to go up in smoke. Farmers in Punjab are often blamed for causing pollution with their practice of setting fire to paddy straw, but many of them have taken to selling it to biomass plants and boilers for lakhs.
Gurdaspur-based farmer Palwinder Singh is one such farmer, who bought a baler last year to turn stubble into bales and selling it to businesses.
Baler, an agriculture machine, is connected with a tractor and collects stubble from a field to turn them into bales.
«Last year, we supplied 1,400 tonne of stubble and this year we are expecting to supply 3,000 tonne of straw,» said Palwinder Singh, a resident of Sahari village.
Palwinder Singh collects stubble from nearby villages and then supply bales to a power generating company in Pathankot.
He said he is also selling bales to the Gujjar community which use it as cattle feed.
Palwinder Singh said he and his associates have already recovered all their investment, all within a year, and expect Rs 15 lakh in revenue this year. He sells stubble at the rate of Rs 180 per quintal.
Malerkotla's Gurpreet Singh is another farmer who is making money out of paddy stubble with the help of balers.
Gurpreet Singh supplies paddy stubble to a CNG bio gas company in Sangrur and another company in Amritsar, besides selling it to the Gujjar community.
«Last year, I sold stubble worth Rs 20 lakh and after deducting all kinds of expenditure, I saved Rs 7-8 lakh,» he said.
Gurpreet Singh sold 1,200 tonne of stubble last year and this year, he plans to sell 5,000 tonnes of it.
He has already signed contracts with companies for the sale of 1,800 tonne of stubble.
«This year,
